St. Louis police serve warrant & confiscate rifle from ‘Ken & Karen’ couple who brandished guns at BLM protesters

Police have confiscated a rifle owned by lawyer Mark McCloskey, seen holding the weapon in last month’s viral video as he and his armed wife confronted Black Lives Matter protesters who’d broken into their gated community.

St. Louis cops descended on the McCloskeys’ Central West End home on Friday night with a search warrant for the gun, as well as the pistol that Patricia McCloskey was seen waving around in the infamous video, local media reported. The couple’s attorney had reportedly taken possession of the pistol already.

So far, no charges have been filed against the McCloskeys, who called the police and armed themselves after more than 100 demonstrators broke through a gate near their property en route to protest in front of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house. The couple claimed protesters were explicitly threatening to kill them, burn their house down, and even kill their pets, insisting they only armed themselves upon seeing several demonstrators with weapons. 

However, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is reportedly investigating the incident, having made clear her stance on the matter from the outset with a statement condemning how “peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent assault.” No shots were fired during the confrontation, nor was any physical contact reported between the demonstrators and the McCloskeys. Gardner is one of several “progressive” prosecutors elected in the past few years whose campaign was bankrolled by billionaire currency speculator George Soros, and her behavior in office has hewed close to what one might expect from a Soros-backed district attorney, from releasing every person arrested during weeks of rioting following the police killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day in Minneapolis to prosecuting the state’s Republican governor for alleged invasion of privacy back in 2017.

Video of the standoff between the McCloskeys and the protesters polarized Americans, with most on the right viewing it as a brave act of “stand your ground” self-defense and most on the left deeming it a craven display of white privilege, dubbing the pair “Ken and Karen” and mocking their apparent lack of firearms training. Ironically, Mark McCloskey recently represented a victim of police brutality in his personal injury law practice, securing federal charges against the officer.

Missouri has relatively permissive gun laws, and defenders of the McCloskeys have argued the couple were well within their rights to protect their own property, while the protesters were trespassing on a private street. However, their detractors have countered that pointing weapons at peaceful demonstrators constitutes assault, calling for the gun-wielding couple to be disbarred, arrested, or worse.

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