A second weapon that Mark and Patricia McCloskey pointed at protesters in their Central West End neighborhood in 2020 is back in the hands of the couple.
"Reunited at last, and the Sheriff himself came down to congratulate me on the return!" McCloskey posted on X on Sept. 4 – the same day Sheriff Alfred Montgomery agreed to return the pistol.
McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, had been forced to surrender the pistol and a second firearm after pleading guilty to misdemeanors in 2021 for pointing the guns at protesters.
Then-Gov. Mike Parson pardoned the couple in August 2021. Mark McCloskey immediately sued to get the guns back. But courts ruled that although a pardon eliminates a conviction, it does not "extinguish his guilt or the consequences flowing from his guilty plea."
The McCloskeys last year filed petitions for expungement. A judge granted the request on June 5. Under Missouri law, the couple regained all rights that had been restricted by their criminal record, including the right to own firearms. An appeals court panel upheld the decision in July.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department had previously returned the other gun, an AR-15 rifle.
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