I’m sure by now you’ve seen the picture of the white husband-and-wife lawyers Mark and Pat McCloskey, who stood outside their million-dollar mansion in St. Louis holding guns (he had a rifle, she had a handgun) as protestors marched by on Sunday.
Actually, holding is the wrong word. The couple had their guns pointed at the passersby.
Ironically, he has Black clients who are alleged victims of police brutality, and she sits on the Missouri Bar Ethical Review Panel. I don’t know how wielding weapons at peaceful protestors with your fingers on the triggers qualifies as ethical.
Fortunately, no shots were fired as the marchers moved on. Yet I can’t help but wonder how that would have played out if the McCloskeys were Black.
I also wonder if the McCloskeys are familiar with Mo. Rev. Stat. § 571.030.1(4), prohibiting exhibiting “any weapon readily capable of lethal use” in an angry or threatening manner in public.
Today, their law office is boarded up, leading me to ask whether they will have a net gain or loss of clients in the short-term because of this incident.