A day after the previous governor suggested he was a coward for not sending officers to defend the St. Louis couple seen in viral video footage holding guns on protesters near their home, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday the couple "had every right" to take the action to defend their home.
Parson, according to reporting by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said he has always defended the Second Amendment. He also noted that when he was in the state House, he was a sponsor of the state's revamped Castle Doctrine, giving homeowners more freedom to fire weapons to defend themselves against intruders on their property.
On Monday, former Gov. Eric Greitens told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that the reason Parson didn't come to the couple's aid during the original event was, "You have a cowardice problem."
"You have some Republicans whose cowardice and complicity is also accelerating and fueling the problem here," he told Carlson. "There is no leadership, there is no direction."
Patricia and Mark McCloskey confronted Black Lives Matter protesters on June 28 who were marching to Mayor Lyda Krewson's house. The couple have said the protesters broke through a gate to a private road beside their house and were not on public property.
At Tuesday's news briefing, Parson said, "Law enforcement on that night was available. … We weren’t notified through the governor’s office, through the Highway Patrol — was not notified of that situation. However, that being said, that couple had every right to protect their property."
The governor also criticized St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, saying she ws “attempting to take their constitutional rights away.”
Gardner has executed a search warrant of the couple's home and has vowed to investigate whether they broke any laws in threatening the protesters.
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