Screenshot via Twitter
Yesterday, a march in St. Louis called upon the mayor to resign. As the march passed by a recently restored palazzo, they were greeted by the homeowners who responded entirely rationally by waving an AR-15 at the crowd.
And, obviously, they are both lawyers.
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Mark and Patricia McCloskey of the McCloskey Law Center came out of the house brandishing firearms and cut figures that were a lot less “Rambo” and a lot more “Jimmy Buffett survivalist chic.”
A couple pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis as a group marched toward the mayor's home to demand her resignation. https://t.co/5EqDd43QCd pic.twitter.com/KWNaif77ch
— ABC News (@ABC) June 29, 2020
Is that gun… bigger than he is? And while AR-15s are more prone to capture our attention because their only practical application is a mass shooting, we would be remiss if we didn’t highlight Patricia waving a handgun around breezily as if to say, “I don’t care what you say, Gilligan, Mr. Howell and I are getting off this motherf**king island, now!”
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In their defense, the Daily Mail reports that protesters had broken through the entrance to the gated community and they handled the matter themselves and apparently didn’t bring in the police and escalate the altercation. And with the police brutality we’ve seen against peaceful protesters over the past few weeks, telling the protesters to “keep moving” rather than sitting back and waiting for the Chicago Democratic Convention to break out on their front lawn is a start.
However, there are several steps between “some people are outside” and “let’s get the assault rifle.” One of which might be just engaging the group and telling them that this wasn’t the mayor’s house.
But the Missouri legal community has some thoughts on the idea of their fellow attorneys casting themselves in a Mark Wahlberg movie:
A fellow lawyer from Missouri, a guy I know named Mark McCloskey committed an assault tonight in STL by pointing his AR 15 at peaceful protesters. He should be arrested and charged with assault immediately. The MO Bar should revoke their licenses. https://t.co/6N75iFLDtT
— doncalloway (@dcstl) June 29, 2020
Given that they stayed on their property and the protesters were on a private road, I’m not sure how the assault claim would play out, but the gatekeepers of the profession may have a few things to say about lawyers whose first instinct is to take the law into their own well-manicured hands.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.