JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMOX) - "That couple had every right to protect their property," said Gov. Mike Parson in his planned Facebook Live Tuesday.
He was there to discuss COVID-19, but had just gotten off the phone with President Donald Trump and they discussed the McCloskeys - the lawyer couple that lives on Portland Place in St. Louis and images of them waving guns at BLM protesters June 28 went viral.
Over the weekend, police searched the home and took Mark McCloskey's AR-15. Al Watkins, the couple's first lawyer (they've since hired Joel Schwartz) arranged for Patricia McCloskey's handgun to be turned over to police. The prosecuting attorney is investigating.
Parson says the McCloskeys have the ability to protect their property like everyone else, and what they should not have to go through is a prosecutor "attempting to take their constitutional rights away by filing charges against them for protecting their property."
"I just got off the phone with the President of the United States before I walked out here today," Parson says. "He understands the situation in Missouri. He understands the situation in St. Louis and how out of control it is for a prosecutor to let violent criminals off and not do their job and try to attack law-abiding citizens. The conversation I had with the President, said that he would do everything he could within his powers to help with this situation."