Despite receiving a governor’s pardon after their guilty pleas for brandishing an assault-style rifle and a petite handgun at peaceful civil rights demonstrators marching through their neighborhood in 2020, Mark and Patricia McCloskey will not have their weapons or fines returned to them, the Associated Press reports.

The McCloskeys became flash-in-the-pan conservative media darlings after they faced down a bunch of peaceful protestors who marched through their precious gated community:  they appeared at the 2020 Republican National Convention which nominated Donald Trump for re-election and Mark McCloskey made a disastrous run for Senate; he finished with 3% of the vote in the 2022 GOP primary.

Missouri Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty ruled that the pardon did not have any influence over the terms of the plea agreement the McCloskeys signed, noting that they voluntarily entered into the agreement in February 2022 which included as terms that the McCloskeys pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, pay a $3,000 fine, surrender their Colt AR-15 rifle and a Bryco .380-caliber pistol, and serve one year’s probation.  Mark McCloskey, a personal injury lawyer, also had his law license revoked, although the final decision on a pending appeal will happen after McCloskey finishes his probation.  While the pardon erases the state misdemeanor charges from their records, the other penalties will remain because the McCloskeys voluntarily entered into them or they were levied by non-governmental organization and therefore beyond the influence of the governor’s office.