August 26, 2020
By Mark Chesnut
While Mark and Patricia McCloskey had some important things to say in their Republican National Convention speech on Monday night, a more interesting story is all the hatred they received from rabid anti-gunners.
You likely remember the McCloskey’s as the St. Louis couple who armed themselves to protect their home from an unruly mob that had broken down a gate to get into their private neighborhood while looking for the mayor’s home. Later, St. Louis Circuit Prosecutor Kim Gardner charged both of them with felonies, despite Missouri’s strong self-defense laws and the fact that they didn’t commit any crime.
Mark McCloskey gave viewers of the Republican National Convention some information many people weren’t aware of prior to the televised event. In fact, McCloskey said the situation has other aspects even more unbelievable than the prosecution.
“The Marxist, liberal activist leading the mob to our neighborhood stood outside our home with a bullhorn screaming, ‘You can’t stop the revolution!’” he said. “Just weeks later, that same Marxists activist won the Democrat nomination to hold a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In the city of St. Louis, that’s the same as winning the general election. That Marxist revolutionary is now going to be the Congresswoman from the 1st District of Missouri.”
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For her part, Patricia got directly to the bottom line, explaining why rank and file Americans can’t support Democrat candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this November’s election.
“Make no mistake, no matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America,” she said. “When we don’t have basic safety in our communities, we’ll never be free to build a brighter future for ourselves, for our children or for our country. That’s what’s at stake in this election.”
Of course, liberals, socialists and those in the so-called “mainstream” media were beside themselves that the Republicans would even consider giving the McCloskeys an opportunity to address the nation.
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A Politico.com headline put it like this: “In grievance-filled speech, St. Louis couple warn of chaos in the suburbs if Democrats elected.” That was actually the least biased thing Politico had to say, later stating, “What ensued was a fear-based appeal to suburban voters as the couple rebuked the Black Lives Matter protesters at whom they waved guns from the steps of their mansion as ‘Marxist liberal activists’ and ‘criminals.’”
Theguardian.com seemed even more upset that the McCloskeys were allowed to speak their minds to Americans who were watching the first night of the convention.
“Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who were filmed pointing guns at peaceful protesters in June, claim Democrats want to ‘abolish suburbs,’” that website stated in the subhead to its story. The story later pontificated, “A white St Louis couple facing charges for brandishing guns at peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters have baselessly accused Democrats of ‘protecting criminals from honest citizens’ and trying to ‘abolish the suburbs.’”
In the end, gun haters and Trump haters can speak against the Second Amendment and armed self-defense all they want, but it doesn’t change the fact that Americans have a right to keep and bear arms that they can use to protect themselves, their homes and their families. The reason liberals and the media hate the McCloskeys so much is because they had the guts to practice that right, even in the face of overwhelming numbers, and backed down the protestors, some of whom were also armed.
That makes them role models in the sight of many who believe the Second Amendment means exactly what it says.
Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC. An avid hunter, shooter and political observer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for the past 20 years.
