Overview

• Mark McCloskey retrieved his AR-15 from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department on August 1, ending a 1,847-day fight through three lawsuits and two appeals.
• The rifle was seized in June 2020 after the couple pointed firearms at Black Lives Matter protesters who entered their private St. Louis neighborhood.
• Governor Mike Parson pardoned their misdemeanor assault and harassment convictions in 2021 and a court ordered the expungement of those records in 2024.
• Patricia McCloskey’s pistol remains held by the St. Louis Sheriff’s Department and is expected to be returned within days.
• Legal briefs from Attorney General Eric Schmitt and subsequent appeals rulings have framed the case as a test of Missouri’s castle doctrine and stand-your-ground provisions.