Former National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch defended the viral couple from St. Louis who were caught on camera pointing guns at protesters who came through their gated community.
Loesch joined Fox News’s Tucker Carlson on Monday night and said the couple, Mark and Patty McCloskey, committed no crimes by standing outside their home with an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun.
“These protesters were not peacefully walking past anything,” she said. “These individuals mowed down a gate. An iron gate.”
“So I dare say that legacy media can stop trying to gaslight everyone into thinking that private property damage didn’t happen,” she continued. “And they were screaming threats at this couple. When you are damaging private property, when you are trespassing, you are ceasing to engage in peaceful protest.”
The scene with the McCloskeys unfolded Sunday evening as they were reportedly eating dinner. A group of protesters came through their neighborhood to protest outside St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home after the mayor publicly read aloud the personal information of people who advocated for defunding the local police department.
“A mob of at least 100 smashed through the historic wrought-iron gates of Portland Place, destroying them, rushed towards my home, where my family was having dinner outside, and put us in fear of our lives,” Mark McCloskey told KMOV. “This is all private property. There are no public sidewalks or public streets. We were told that we would be killed, our home burned, and our dog killed. We were all alone facing an angry mob.”
“It was like the storming of the Bastille. The gate came down, and a large crowd of angry, aggressive people poured through,” he said. “I was terrified that we’d be murdered within seconds. Our house would be burned down. Our pets would be killed.”
The pair, both local lawyers, also released a statement Monday denying that they broke the law and said they support the Black Lives Matter movement. The statement also emphasized that many of the protesters were white.
“The peaceful protesters were not the subject of scorn or disdain by the McCloskeys,” the statement read. “To the contrary, they were expecting and supportive of the message of the protesters. The actions of violence, destruction of property and acts of threatening aggression by a few individuals commingling with the peaceful protesters, gave rise to trepidation and fear of imminent and grave.”
Loesch added that the area is close to where retired police captain David Dorn was shot and killed when looters broke into a pawnshop during protests following George Floyd’s death.
“People wanted to defund the police — this is what defunding the police looks like,” she said. “This is what the Second Amendment looks like, and if people want to continue pushing communities to get rid of the police and protection for citizenry, the citizens are going to be the backlash.”
