Missouri governor defends McCloskeys’ actions against BLM mob, says he will pardon them

king on “The Marc Cox Morning Show” on 97.1 FM in St. Louis, [Missouri Gov. Mike] Parson was asked about an investigation circuit attorney Kim Gardner launched into Mark and Patricia McCloskey. The two were seen in widely shared footage from June pointing guns at a group of protesters who were walking down their street as part of a demonstration.

The McCloskeys claimed in a police report that they felt threatened by the demonstrators and feared that they would assault them or destroy their property. But Gardner said that she would look into the events, noting at the outset of her probe that “we will not tolerate the use of force against those exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Parson strongly pushed back against the impetus for the investigation, saying that the McCloskeys “did what they legally should do.”

“A mob does not have the right to charge your property. They had every right to protect themselves,” he said.

That’s definitely true. I think initially people like me were uneasy about the case because it was unclear if the protesters were just in the neighborhood, which would be legal if it were public property, or if they were on their personal property, which would be illegal. Clearly, the McCloskeys have the right to defend their property when people break through their gate, even if liberals agree with the political agenda of the protesters.

He went on to say he would pardon them if they faced charges:

Asked whether he would consider a pardon if charges were filed, Parsons said, “I think that’s exactly what would happen.”
“Right now, that’s what I feel,” he said. “You don’t know until you hear all the facts. But right now, if this is all about going after them for doing a lawful act, then yeah, if that scenario ever happened, I don’t think they’re going to spend any time in jail.”
“We will not allow law-abiding citizens to be targeted for exercising their constitutional rights,” Parson added in a tweet linking to his comments.

That seems very fair – he even allows for the possibility that there may be other facts in evidence he doesn’t know about that may sway the decision either way. But, given what we know now, it just doesn’t seem fair to the McCloskeys to press charges when all they were doing were defending their home. Because, I would hope, that we would defend the rule of law whether it serves our partisan political agenda or not…