Pardoned Gun-Waving Couple Won't Get Weapons Back, Fine Refunded: Judge

The St. Louis couple who notoriously brandished guns as racial justice protesters walked past their home will not be getting their weapons back nor their fines refunded, a judge has ruled.

Mark McCloskey, who ran a failed race for the state’s open Senate seat last year, and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, were pardoned in August 2021 by Missouri’s GOP Gov. Mike Parson.

The McCloskeys had earlier pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for assault and harassment in the 2020 confrontation. The couple turned over a Colt AR-15 rifle and a Bryco .380-caliber pistol to authorities as part of the plea agreement. But Mark McCloskey soon afterward posed, smiling, in a photo on social media with a new AR-15.

The McCloskeys were honored speakers at the 2020 Republican National Convention, where Donald Trump was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate.

Mark McCloskey sued to retrieve the confiscated firearms — and for a refund of an $872.50 fine after the couple’s pardon.

But Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty rejected the suit Wednesday, ruling that the couple are “required to follow through with their end of the bargain” despite the pardon, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

“While the governor’s pardon does clear plaintiff’s record of the conviction, his guilt remains, and the terms of an agreement that predicated said guilt also remains,” Moriarty added.

McCloskey vowed to appeal.

The lawyer garnered just 3% of the vote in the Senate GOP primary race last year against Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

Related...

• Mark McCloskey Flaunts AR-15 After Firearm Confiscation

• Mark McCloskey, Ordered To Surrender Gun He Pointed At Black Protesters, Poses With New AR-15

• Supreme Court Declines Appeal From Couple Who Pointed Guns At Racial Justice Protesters