Gun couple address Republican convention highlighting culture wars gripping America

Mark and Patricia McCloskey made headlines in June as the couple who brandished semi-automatic rifle and pistol at peacefully marching Black Lives Matter protesters in St.Louis. They are back in the spotlight, this time as the speakers of the Republic National Convention. The couple will be seen addressing the convention’s opening night on Monday.

ALSO READ | US presidential elections: Republican Party formally nominates Donald Trump for second term

“Though the news media attempted to ‘cancel’ them, the McCloskeys have stood by their commitment to personal liberty and Constitutional rights,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.

The McCloskeys have become key exhibits in a tense national debate involving race and the widening socio-economic divides. Their inclusion is expected to highlight the culture wars gripping America.

ALSO READ | Kim Gardner, St Louis prosecutor targeted by Donald Trump, wins Democratic primary

The couple was charged with felony unlawful use of weapons. “It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner — that is unlawful in the city of St Louis,” St Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner had said. The attorney was soon criticised by Trump who considered the charge an “egregious abuse of power.”

“We did nothing wrong. I thought we were going to die,” Mark McCloskey told Kimberly Guilfoyle, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign, on her podcast last month. “We did nothing wrong and we’re not going to back down.”

ALSO READ | ‘Donaled, your racism is showing,’ Senator Booker hits back at Trump

The decision to include McCloskeys who live in the wealthy St. Louis enclave also assumes importance as Trump was seen campaigning to keep low-income Americans, who he claims ‘commit crimes’ out of wealthy neighborhoods.

He also claimed that ‘suburban housewives’ will vote for him and openly warned that Biden policies on low-income housing would “destroy suburbia” — comments that Democratic Senator Cory Booker, who is black, deemed “blatantly racist.”