VCDL updates

I am posting this on behalf of the VCDL. They work hard to protect our gun rights. Here are 3 sections of actions. Please share with other 2a supporters and gun enthusiasts.


No. 1

VCDL Page - Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
Virginia Citizens Defense League - Home
12 hours ago

Ed Levine, VCDL Executive member and Facebook admin. After Philip Van Cleave posted about the "interview", my friend Rob Pincus posted his experience..

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Thanks for adding me to the Group even though I am not a member. I feel for Phillip and the quandary he is in. I was also approached by this group and accepted their invitation. Here is My Story (also posted as a comment under the article at Ammoland), I'll be posting this with a link to the story tomorrow on my social media:

I was actually flown out to this taping that was going on in PA a couple of weeks ago.

The production team figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't going to go along with the shenanigans and then proceeded to come up with every version of excuse for why they "went ready for me" or "there were delays" when I repeatedly tried to make contact with the supposed "Trainers" that were involved. At one point I actually got in a car and was heading over to the taping location in Harrisburg from the Great American Outdoors Show and they had the driver turn around and take me back to the hotel. The production staffer was in a panic on the phone, which she obviously didn't know was on speaker. She insisted that I be taken to my hotel and that the car return for someone else that why were ready for. One of the production staff members showed up there to cover my associated expenses and have me sign a receipt (I never signed a release of agreement to be part of the production). Throughout this time I had been in contact with two different women: Ashley Winthrop and Alexis Rothe.

I later heard from a female gun rights activist (whom I will not name at this time) who was also invited to participate. They actually put her in front of the camera that day and manipulated her into playing along with the some extraordinarily ridiculous things like a gun disguised as a stuffed animal so that young kids could keep at the ready in the classroom with them and killers wouldn't immediately target the kids with the guns. One of the guns was actually named "Uzi-Corn".... you get the idea. Her story was very similar to Phillips that is related above.

I'll admit that when I first heard her story, I didn't believe that it was actually a set-up. It was easier to believe that there were just some really well intentioned but horribly misguided people who were being strung along by an LA Production company looking to make a few bucks. My assumption at that point was that they didn't let me in to keep their production moving forward without disruption... but, I didn't clearly see the reason behind their fear of that disruption.
I did counsel this woman in regard to the next steps she should take to prevent her participation from being part of any video that might eventually be released and I am still in contact with her as she is working with lawyers to try to protect her reputation.

I actually posted a warning to the CFS Instructor Team in our discussion group that included:?“Beware of this outfit and media project. I don’t know if it is a well funded scam to embarrass gun people or a well funded show.... but, it should be avoided.”?
Over the past few days, the truth behind the craziness has been revealed.

I have been (and remain) an advocate for "always saying yes" to media invitations so that we can present our views as responsible gun owners and Second Amendment Advocates. That said, we must not be so anxious to participate in front of the camera that we go along with whatever is being said... even if it means risking offending someone or insulting them by requesting to record the event ourselves or vet the claims of the other people involved.

I am standing by to assist anyone who might be impugned by this well funded scam.

-Rob Pincus

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No. 2

VCDL Page - Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
Virginia Citizens Defense League - Home
16 hours ago

At the suggestion of one of our members, I have made an audio version of the alert that went out today on the effort underway to make a film to damage gun-rights leaders. That might be easier to share and also handy to listen to while driving, etc.

http://www.vcdl.org/resources/Audio/First_Freedom_Alert.mp4



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No. 3

VCDL Page - Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
Virginia Citizens Defense League - Home
on Tuesday

URGENT! share this far and wide!

Last weekend, while doing what seemed to be a regular interview, I discovered that a movie is being made with the intent to discredit gun-rights leaders across the country.

No, this is not a joke, it is real and we need to get the word out to other gun-rights organizations, gun-rights leaders, and prominent firearms trainers across the country and we need to do this FAST.

Back in 2014, alleged Hollywood sexual predator Harvey Weinstein said he was going to make a movie “that would make the NRA wish they weren’t alive.” (All gun organizations are the NRA in his mind.) And he was dead serious. Michael Moore has been attempting to discredit gun owners and leaders for years by tricking people and using creative editing techniques to make them look foolish or idiotic.

Who’s behind this effort isn’t clear, but they are EXTREMELY WELL FUNDED PROFESSIONALS. For example, to reel me in and to try to make me feel beholden to them, they laid out the red carpet, by providing luxury accommodations, limousine service, and providing a generous monetary allowance to cover meals and other expenses for two days.

They use psychological manipulation, as well as lies and tricks to put their victim into comedic situations that subject them to public shame, embarrassment, and ridicule. I believe the intent is to destroy reputations and even lives.

I did some detective work in the days immediately following the “interview,” and I managed to find out they had targeted at least one nationally known firearms trainer and I know there are more. They appear to be setting up near gun shows. I also found out they covered their tracks carefully to avoid revealing their true identity.

It started when VCDL received an email last week from a company called “First Freedom Television” to do an interview with an “Israeli security expert” on the “shared security interests of like-minded countries, such as the U.S. and Israel.” It went on, “Unlike the misguided position of American liberals, who aim to eradicate guns altogether, Israel has proven that universal gun training and widespread gun ownership actually leads to a safer society.”

I do interviews all the time, and this one didn’t seem to be all that much out of the ordinary.

On Sunday, February 11, 2018, I did the interview in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. About 5 minutes into the interview, my radar turned on big time when the interviewer was making claims about Israeli schools training selected children to use firearms from age 17 down to age 4 (!) as a last ditch effort in stopping a terrorist attack on a school if the teachers and security staff had been killed. The children would have codes to unlock secured firearms in such a case.

When I balked at 4-year-olds being able to do that, he showed me an alleged newscast video on his iPad. The text was in Hebrew, but with an English-speaking narration, talking about how a 4-year-old boy had indeed stopped a terrorist attack at his school. The newscast said that he killed two terrorists using his dad’s gun, which he had brought to school in his backpack to show a friend, in violation of school rules. Israeli Premier Netanyahu was touting him as a hero in the video.

While I’ve never been to Israel, I do know they have some serious terrorism concerns, especially at schools and other public gatherings. The way they handle some of their security can be very different from what we have in the U.S. But that news story just didn’t look right, and 4-year-olds can hold a gun and fire it with supervision, but not take on terrorists, and especially manage to shoot and kill two of them.

Because of this and various other odd things I noticed during the interview, I was now convinced that something wasn’t right. This wasn’t real and probably some sort of a set up.

I could only think of Hollywood’s threat. At a minimum, it could be a comedy which would play only in Israel, but it could be a more damaging attempt to make a “mocumentary,” by someone like Michael Moore, or, even worse, a Sacha Baron Cohen-esq “Borat”-type of shock comedy meant to be devastatingly embarrassing and humiliating to the victim in the crosshairs.

As the 15-minute interview terminated, the interviewer asked me if I, as an English-speaking firearms trainer, would help him make a “gun safety” training video for children of various ages. This had to be the “kicker,” I thought.

For better or for worse, I decided that I would play along with the scheme so I could find out who was behind this and where this was going. I figured if I was right about this being a set up, I could blow the whistle and get a warning out to the gun-rights community across the country to protect as many people as possible and maybe derail this attack. If it turned out to be nothing, then no harm, no foul.

We recorded for almost 3 hours using Airsoft guns as props. They even had a teleprompter!

I was right — it was a set up - and it was much worse than I could have imagined. If you’ve seen the 70’s movie, “The Sting,” it was much like that. It was a well-orchestrated, well-choreographed, psychological manipulation, with a production cast of at least 10 people, to slowly lead a person down the primrose path.

We went step-by-step with a ready, and seemingly logical, answer every time I balked at some crazy part of the training. They seemed to have thought of every thing that a person might question. All I can say is that these people were extremely good at deception and manipulation. And no matter how stupid the things the interviewer and I were doing (we were side-by-side the whole time), no one else cracked a smile or laughed once, and I was watching. The professional actors were keeping up the appearance that this was a serious project.

The end goal was to get the victim to make a “training film” teaching 3 and 4-year-olds how to shoot guns hidden in toy animals at “bad” people, to sing little songs and make gun noises during the training to make it “fun for children,” and even teach little kids how to shoot a rocket-propelled-grenade or a squad automatic weapon at an approaching suicide bomber vehicle!

It all sounds unbelievable. But everything was elaborately and expensively staged; every contingency planned for, with explanations that make unbelievable things seem plausible (fake documents and videos about how Israel handles security in their schools, for example). The interview moved along at a pace, designed not to give the “mark” time to reflect on where things are going. The craziness factor very gradually got more extreme, like cooking a frog by slowly heating up the water so he doesn’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late. It’s a con game, a sting, plain and simple.

I don’t know if they have other scenarios or they will use other company names to continue concealing their identity, but anyone doing an interview dealing with gun rights where they sense something odd should terminate that interview. Or, better, bring a recorder and tell the other party you are going to make your own recording of the interview. If they say “no,” then walk out. I am going to make that my own policy going forward to protect against any future fake interviews. BTW, they had me leave my cellphone in an office “because it might interfere with the recording devices,” but I think it was so I couldn’t take any photos of them or make any video or audio recordings on that phone.

In the end we played each other and I confirmed what I feared this was all about. Sadly for me, I’m sure I’m going to be in whatever crazy film finally comes out, looking really stupid and, just as sadly, I’ll probably be in good company. A few of us will no doubt get hammered, but if we can get the word out IMMEDIATELY, we might be able to save the reputations of many other good people.

Finally, looking at the possibilities and what I saw while making the “training film,” I’m betting this is going to end up being a “Borat”-style film and it’s going to be vicious on the victims.

Please share this alert far and wide.

Philip Van Cleave
President
Virginia Citizens Defense League
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