Mark and Patricia McCloskey didn’t want to be the face of opposition to various protests all over the country. They didn’t want to become memes, either. However, that’s kind of what happened after they faced down an angry mob with their firearms. The couple claim the first couple of protestors to approach their home issued threats and they responded accordingly.

It was something of a bad situation, to say the least.

It didn’t help that protestors descended on the McCloskey house for a second time.

 Several hundred protesters made a peaceful return trip to the St. Louis mansion owned by a white couple whose armed defense of their home during an earlier demonstration earned them both scorn and support.

Protesters marched Friday along the busy public boulevard called Kingshighway, which intersects with Portland Place, a private street that is the site of the Renaissance palazzo-style home of Mark McCloskey, 61, and his 63-year-old wife, Patricia.

Chanting protesters on Friday stopped at the gate just outside the McCloskeys’ home for about 15 minutes. The gate that closes the private street to non-residents and extra metal barriers blocked the entrance to Portland Place, where the protesters had walked earlier in the week on their way to the mayor’s home nearby.

Inside the gate, more than a dozen men in plain clothes walked the grounds and peered out from a second-floor balcony of the couple’s home. One protester briefly straddled an iron gate as if he was going to jump over, but did not. No one threw anything and no one behind the gates showed aggression. One man on the McCloskeys’ balcony clapped along with the chanting protesters.

The McCloskeys themselves didn’t make an appearance, which isn’t overly surprising. However, even with what looks to be private security, they likely had their hands on their firearms yet again.

I sure as hell would have.

Of course, that’s assuming the McCloskeys were even home.

Frankly, I don’t get this one. Yes, I understand people are displeased by the McCloskeys, but their private parties. Don’t like them? Don’t hire them for a personal injury case. Showing up at their house, though? I’m sorry, but that’s harassment in my book.

At some point, I have to believe that if the mob doesn’t move on to someone else, they’ll escalate the hate toward the McCloskeys to the point where someone will get violent.

Luckily, it appears the McCloskeys recognize that, which is why there were a bunch of “men in plain clothes” about the grounds. They’re not playing around with their personal safety. Nor should they.

However, the irony here is that the McCloskeys appear to be supporters of a number of left-leaning movements. These are, ultimately, allies of the mob on most issues. If they keep this up, they’re going to push the McCloskeys over to the right, along with any number of their friends who don’t like what they’re seeing happen to their friends.

And that’s just one of the better case scenarios. At least that one doesn’t end with dead people.