Mark Thomas McCloskey is an American former personal injury lawyer practicing in St. Louis, Missouri, who attracted national attention in 2020 after he and his wife Patricia brandished firearms at protestors who walked past their house on a private street.
[1] The couple was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a class E felony; they bargained down and pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and were subsequently pardoned by Missouri Governor Mike Parson.
In 2022, McCloskey ran for a United States Senate seat in Missouri, but he lost the Republican primary to Eric Schmitt.
[7] On June 28, 2020, a group of Black Lives Matter protesters entered the private Portland Place neighborhood, intending to join a larger body of 500 marchers at the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson.
(They were protesting Krewson, who publicly read the names and addresses of locals who had written to demand defunding of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
[18] Mark McCloskey in July 2020 had told media that the "people in the crowd in front of my house" were "armed with guns" and that "the police were aware and have video" of that.
[23] In February 2022, the Missouri Supreme Court suspended McCloskey's law license indefinitely but stayed that suspension and imposed one year of probation.
[25] In December 2023, the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District ruled that McCloskey is not entitled to the return of the firearms seized by law enforcement, despite the pardon.
[29] At a candidate's forum in Osage Beach, Missouri, in October 2021, McCloskey stated that he believes rape and incest victims as young as 13 years old should be prohibited from obtaining abortions.
Concern was raised over Christian Identity influence of the Vernon County slate of candidates, with controversial pastor Dan Gayman and other Church of Israel members serving on the vetting committee.