(UPDATE - 7/14/20 Lawyer Albert Watkins, representing Mark and Patricia McCloskey has turned over Patricia McCloskey's handgun.)
In yet another insult and attack on the rights of two people who never set out to harm anyone, whose property was invaded and damaged by a large armed gang, St. Louis police served a search warrant and entered the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey on July 10, seizing the rifle Mark brandished at protesters who'd forcibly broken into his community and were marching past his home.
According to KSDK 5 TV:
5 On Your Side has learned St. Louis police officers executed a search warrant Friday evening at the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the Central West end couple who confronted protesters with weapons in June… Sources told 5 On Your Side that police seized one of the weapons, the rifle, from the couple and they told police their attorney has the pistol seen in photos.
But, as a curious nuance to the story:
Late Friday evening 5 On Your Side confirmed attorney Al Watkins was no longer representing the McCloskeys, and that attorney Joel Schwartz had taken over. Schwartz confirmed a search warrant was issued at 8 p.m. Friday night, but would not say what was taken from the home. Schwartz also said he does not know where the handgun is.
Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. McCloskey were “allowed” to keep it, since it’s, well, theirs, after all, and they have a fundamental right to own it and the rifle.
If human beings do not have the right to self-defense, and to the tools they peacefully acquired to exercise that right, then they do not have a right to life. It can be canceled any time, by anyone, especially the agents of the state.
And their new lawyer added:
Schwartz told 5 On Your Side he does not believe charges are warranted against the McCloskeys and that he hopes to meet with St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office next week, but that there is no official appointment at this time.
So, how does this work?
The Second Amendment explicitly states that “…the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” It is a universal proscription that applies to every level of government, from the feds to a locality. If someone is not in government custody, if someone is out on the street, the person’s right to keep and bear arms is in play – always. The various attenuations that politicians have written into statutes stand contrary to this fundamental fact. If the state deems someone safe enough to be beyond those tax-funded jail walls, that person is supposed to be able to exercise his or her rights.
Now, this couple is without the very firepower they had when defending themselves against armed invaders.
This is America, 2020. This is how the “justice” system works. If these people are too dangerous to own guns, then why has the state allowed them to go free? Will they be forced to get more firearms? Get them black-market? Become criminals in the eyes of the "justice" system that disarmed them?
They have a right to be free, and to defend themselves. Over the years, an array of statutes and judicial decisions have been passed and decided that, bit by bit, have smothered the right to keep and bear arms – as well as many other rights -- beneath their byzantine formalities and paperwork.
And now, unless the McCloskeys hire security, they are vulnerable, after they already felt threatened and saw their property attacked – while the cops were nowhere to be found.
There is something very wrong with “justice” in America, and it’s not the fault of the McCloskeys. And now, if they DO hire security? Leftists likely will demonize them for "exploiting their wealth."
The very wealth the government sucks away to run the "justice" system that just disarmed them.