Law Enforcement Today (LET) recently shared a message it received from an internet troll, warning that the publication’s reporting on Virginia’s growing militias is tantamount to “shouting ‘fire’ in a movie theater.”

The troll posted, “Your reporting about the growing numbers in the militia create a clear and present threat to America. As part of Congress, I’m giving you fair warning that this is the equivalent of shouting ‘fire’ in a movie theater. If your reporting incites violence, or can even be tied to it, we will make sure to charge your editors with felonies.”

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LET writes, “We’re not sharing any classified information. And we’re not calling for violence.”

An anonymous troll apparently wants to create a “chilling effect” to scare away editors and publishers.

The “chill” comes from both the radical words of the troll — and from the individual’s effort to present himself or herself as a U.S. congressman or senator.

Whether this internet hobgoblin is a member of Congress (sadly, not implausible, today) or some blatherskite crawling out of the anti-gun rights ooze doesn’t really matter, in my view. Whoever the troll is, it further exposes the fact that adherents to a formerly mainstream political ideology have abandoned any sense of true liberalism.

Historically, when not in power, Republicans and Democrats each served as the other’s loyal opposition. This is no longer the case.

Now, one party espouses eroding Americans’ natural rights.The Democrat leadership no longer wants the democratic republic that the Framers established based on limited self-government, equal justice, and the rule of law.

The LET team wrote that within two hours of publishing an article “about the growing militias,” they “were hit with several massive cyber attacks.” Cyber villains apparently attacked them again after they published more articles on the same issue in the next two days.

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How does this impact law enforcement?

Previously, militias were seen as formed by “anti-government” oddballs. This militia effort today seems dramatically different. Today’s gun rights opponents openly favor gun confiscation and using law enforcement and/or the military to do it.

In response to overreaching Dems, these new militias reportedly include active and retired cops and military veterans.

Aside from those in Virginia, similar militias are also forming in other states.

Leftist Slate published a piece saying states should “neutralize militias.” The publication described the new militias as “armed right-wing extremists” and compared them to those responsible for the “Oklahoma City bombing.”

It also argued that states have “the legal tools to crack down on paramilitaries.”

Slate wondered “why they [the states] don’t use them.”

These “legal tools” only exist thanks to politicians who create them by passing unconstitutional laws that infringe on gun rights.

And guess who they will need to handle these legal tools? That’s right — the police.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is exacerbating the Dems’ radical push against gun owners. How so? Here it is, according to the title of an article by the NRA/ILA appearing in The Daily Caller: “Virginia Gov. Northam Increases Corrections Budget In Anticipation Of Jailing Gun Owners.”

These political extremists are a real threat to Americans’ gun right and free speech rights — and also to law enforcement officers who are being set up with the choice: Uphold the Constitution — or join the Dems in violating it?

If these anti-free speech forces ever get their way and pass laws that squelch spoken and written opposing views, think about what alternatives remain to retain the people’s rights.

Once the First and Second Amendments fall, the others can’t be far behind.

But stop and think about how fortunate we are as Americans — and just how remarkable it is to live in a country where law enforcement officers and military members and veterans work to preserve the rights of the people and not to increase the power of the government.

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