After he and his wife pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, Mark McCloskey said late last week that local officials will confiscate the AR-15 that he was holding during the viral incident during Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations last year.
In an interview with Newsmax, McCloskey said that he wanted to keep his AR-15 so he could either donate it or auction it off because it has “historical value.”
He and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges last week. He was fined $750 and his wife $2,000, according to prosecutors, for holding firearms as BLM protesters walked past their St. Louis home. Part of their plea agreement was to surrender their firearms.
McCloskey said that he has other firearms and is planning to “go out and buy another AR-15” as soon as the court clears him and he’s no longer under indictment. The silver-colored pistol that Patricia McCloskey was seen holding will be “melted down,” he said in the interview.
The AR-15 and the pistol were confiscated by local authorities last year, he said. When he attempted to obtain his AR-15, prosecutors said they didn’t want that to happen, leading to a judge siding with him. Now the AR-15 “unfortunately” will be “melted down as well,” McCloskey added.
The couple had faced felony charges over the incident, which were dropped. The two told media outlets last year that they were threatened with violence by the BLM protesters and accused them of breaking down a gate leading into their community.
“We saved the city of St. Louis the expense of pursuing this nonsense, and then we’ll move forward,” McCloskey told Newsmax, adding that the charges were lowered to “a new crime which basically said I purposely placed other people in the apprehension of imminent physical harm.”
The guilty plea to the new charges won’t affect McCloskey’s law license or his ability to run for public office. Earlier this year, he launched his bid for the Missouri Senate.
Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who previously charged both of them with felonies, was later removed from a role in their case after a judge in late 2020 ruled that she appeared to have started prosecution against the two for political purposes.
The Epoch Times has contacted McCloskey for comment.
From The Epoch Times
