Josh Hawley Requests Federal Probe of St. Louis DA’s Mark McCloskey Case

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is asking Attorney General Bill Barr to open an investigation into the prosecution of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple seen on video protecting their home with guns on June 28.

A couple has come out of their house and is pointing guns at protesters in their neighborhood #StLouis #lydakrewson pic.twitter.com/ZJ8a553PAU

— Daniel Shular (@xshularx) June 29, 2020

On June 30, Breitbart News reported an investigation had been opened against the McCloskeys.

New York Post quoted St. Louis Prosecutor Kimberly Gardner saying, “We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated.” Gardner said her office was “currently working with the public and police to investigate these events. Make no mistake: we will not tolerate the use of force against those exercising their First Amendment rights, and will use the full power of Missouri law to hold people accountable.”

Fox News reported that Hawley is now asking AG Barr to investigate Gardner’s investigation into the McCloskeys.

Hawley described Gardner’s investigation as “an unacceptable abuse of power,” claiming it poses a “threat to the Second Amendment.”

Hawley added, “There is no question under Missouri law that the McCloskeys had the right to own and use their firearms to protect themselves from threatened violence, and that any criminal prosecution for these actions is legally unsound. The only possible motivation for the investigation, then, is a politically motivated attempt to punish this family for exercising their Second Amendment rights.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.