‘The View’: Meghan McCain Defends St. Louis Couple Aiming Guns at Protesters

The View co-host Meghan McCain is defending the St. Louis couple — Mark McCloskey and his wife, Patricia — who aimed guns at protesters but did criticize their lack of safety. During Tuesday’s episode of the daytime talk show, McCain addressed the incident: “The question I always had is what happens when you start going into the suburbs when people a lot of times are armed and do feel intimidated.”

She then adds that “if a mob of people comes into your neighborhood and breaks a gate — that’s one of the things they’re claiming is that their gate was broken by these protesters — people are going to feel intimidated.” After defending the couple’s right to protect their property, McCain — who is a licensed gun owner — expressed issues with the way they handled their weapons. “This woman had her finger on the trigger the entire time,” McCain noted. “Trigger control is a big thing, especially with pistols.”

McCain also referred to “one point where [Patricia was] moving her pistol around, she could have easily have shot her husband in the head.” She then chided Mark for having “no muzzle control whatsoever. That means the front part of AR-15 — he’s pointing it in all directions, all places.” McCain said that this was all “highly, highly dangerous and irresponsible,” and added that “you never point your weapon that you don’t intend to shoot and hit, so right off the bat I have a problem with this.”

The McCloskeys took to their patio on Sunday as a crowd of protesters marched down their street in their neighborhood. According to Bloomberg, the demonstrators were marching on the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, who had previously taken to Facebook Live to read the names and home addresses of protesters who support defunding the police. The protesters are demanding that she resign after potentially putting those citizens’ lives and homes in danger.

On Monday, St. Louis Prosecutor Kimberly Gardner stated that The McCloskeys are being investigated for potential criminal charges. “I am alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protesters were met by guns,” Gardner stated, per the NY Post. “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.”