U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- The pistol brandished on the McCloskey property in St. Louis appears to have been identified.
The ongoing saga of the McCloskey couple in St. Louis, and their ability to defend their home against a mob of hundreds of people who invaded their private, gated community, has taken some interesting turns.
It has been reported the radical St. Louis Circuit Attorney, Kim Gardner, has charged the couple with unlawful use of a weapon. Missouri has such a statute, as written about earlier on Ammoland.
The charge is controversial. Missouri has a very strong Castle Doctrine law, which gives considerable leeway, especially when people are on their private property.
When the use or threatened use of force is claimed to be justified, as Mark McCloskey has claimed, the state has to burden of proof to show that the McCloskeys’ fear for their lives and property was unreasonable. It is a difficult burden for the prosecution to overcome, especially when confronted with evidence of an angry mob of hundreds of people.
Another controversy has developed. The police seized a pistol, which was said to be the one handled by Patricia McCloskey during the incident.
In a program on St. Louis Public radio, the claim was made that prosecutors had to prove the weapons used by the McCloskeys were capable of lethal force. From stlpublicradio.org:
In order to issue the charges, prosecutors must prove the guns were capable of lethal force.
In a close up of the weapon seized, it appears to be a Bryco 38, an inexpensive weapon which has been embroiled in considerable controversy.
The McCloskeys have said the pistol was incapable of being fired. They say they rendered it inoperable to use it as a prop in a court case. The model of the pistol, and its history, make the claim particularly credible.
Documents showing the pistol was incapable of being fired, when it arrived at the crime lab, have been leaked to the press.
The firearm was reassembled at the crime lab, so that it could work as designed. There has been speculation the experts were told to reassemble the pistol to show that it could be fired. The charges against the McCloskeys did not include any information the pistol had been inoperative.
It has been reported, the police did not find any ammunition for the rifle Mark McCloskey possessed at the time of the incident.
Missouri Governor (R) Mike Parson, has said he will pardon the McCloskeys if it becomes necessary.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has called for the dismissal of the charges against the McCloskeys. From foxnews.com:
“Despite this, Circuit Attorney Gardner filed suit against the McCloskeys, who, according to published reports, were defending their property and safety. As Missouri’s Chief law enforcement officer, I won’t stand by while Missouri law is being ignored,” Schmitt said.
The brief filing says the attorney general “respectfully requests that the Court dismiss this case at the earlier possible opportunity.”
The fact that crime lab personnel carefully documented the pistol was inoperative when they examined it, and someone anonymously leaked the document to the press, showing the lab had found the pistol to be inoperative, indicates people did not want to be seen as altering evidence, or as being part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Prosecutors have enormous power, created for them by the Supreme Court in 1983, when they were given absolute immunity from lawsuit.
Perhaps it is time that absolute immunity for prosecutors be re-examined.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
This entire case is BS and should have never been filed against the couple.
The people who were protesting the mayor who lives a block or so away were illegally trespassing on private property after damaging a private gate to get in and the street is not a city owned and maintained street it also is private.
The prosecutor is a radical democrat who was funded by George Soros and still receives campaign cash from his pac.
This is a prosecutor who needs to be removed for unlawful use of her power.
“Perhaps it is time that absolute immunity for prosecutors be re-examined.”
Ya think !
It is disturbing that the police served a warrant to seize their weapons. Police take an oath to protect the Constitution. The police need to stand up for the Constitution and law abiding citizens rather than take a knee for criminals.
As I understand it, the pistol was given by the couple to their lawyer, who then delivered it to the police…. which obviously leaves a lot of room for the gun to have been in a different condition than it was in the videos we’ve all seen. The idea that the gun was “seized by the police”, as if it was taken out of her hands during the incident suggests a very different timeline. These people may not have violated any law, but all gun owners should see their actions as irresponsible… when she was handling a live gun negligently… Read more »
Am I the only one shocked that anyone would willingly disable a firearm and proceed to use it as a ” bluff” in a defensive situation? I’m glad they pulled it off and are (mostly) unscathed, but that’s a HELL of a dangerous gamble. I’m split between admiration for their managing it and ” Dafuq were you thinking??!!”dismay.
Either way I am glad they’re OK.
Jurylab nullification?As one who grew up on the streets of NY, one dictum stands apropos: “You can bluff if you have a gun, but you don’t bluff if you don’t have a gun.” This St.Louis lawyer should have known this. However, you don’t learn this in law school.
Much ado about nothing. Or more precisely, much ado about politics, and nothing to do with the law. The entire fuss about the McCloskeys is entirely a political debate, with extremist voices screaming on both sides while anyone paying attention to the law, or to common sense, is drowned out and shouted down. I have no problem believing her pistol was inoperative — I and several others who watched the videos of these idiots waving their guns around all noted that her gun might not have been loaded because it was a miracle she didn’t have a negligent discharge the… Read more »
“Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime”, has never rung truer than the days we are living in. Lawlessness abounds, and that’s just in the government!
I do like Rob Pincus’ comments. Considering that the Mob didn’t seem to actually be scared of the two with their firearms, what would the McCloskey’s do if they were actually attacked? Answer: get beat to death with their own unusable firearms. When you have the legal right to own and use a firearm, it should be serviceable. Mr. McCloskeys should have had the AR slung and serviceable, to carry it as he did could easily provoke an action that otherwise would not have happened, Ms. McCloskey had even worse gun handling, but it too should have been holstered or… Read more »