The longtime California politician was praised for his efforts to make government more transparent and authored strict gun control legislation. Last year, Yee introduced legislation banning 3D printed weapons and detachable magazine conversion kits, called “bullet buttons”, in an effort to tighten some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.
Now Senator Yee is accused of consorting with notorious felons and accepting money for his cash-strapped political campaigns in exchange for favors, and promising undercover FBI agents he could deliver connections to international gun runners. The indictment was unsealed in federal court in downtown San Francisco after FBI and other law enforcement officials carried out multiple raids early Wednesday. Yee was arrested at his home and FBI agents also searched Yee’s Sacramento office. The San Francisco investigation connects Yee with Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, who federal authorities said is the leader of Chee Kung Tong, or CKT, a Chinese “criminal enterprise” syndicate federal investigators have been trying to crack since the late 1980′s.
The 137-page FBI affidavit states Yee repeatedly offered to broker illegal firearms sales in exchange for campaign contributions. Yee is charged with seven felonies from money laundering to murder-for-hire. According to the FBI affidavit, Yee told an undercover FBI agent about an arms dealer he’d known for years. It says, “According to Senator Yee, the arms dealer is ‘low key’ and has been trafficking weapons for quite a while… the arms dealer sourced weapons from Russia.”
At one meeting, agents pressed Yee for shoulder-fired weapons–including M-16-type automatic rifles–and shoulder-fired missiles. The affidavit states that Yee asked the undercover agent if he wanted automatic weapons, which the agent confirmed he did–about $500,000 to $2.5 million worth. Yee told the agent “he saw their relationship as tremendously beneficial.” According to the affidavit, the agent told Yee he would pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars over time with the promise of $100,000 immediately for the first arms deal.
The level of hypocrisy is staggering. California’s gun laws only allow for rifles with a special device called a “bullet button” that is only compatible with special 10-round magazines. Retail gun dealers commonly refer to these rifles as “California compliant.” Yee publicly worked to make these draconian gun laws even stricter by making even rifles with “bullet buttons” illegal, effectively banning rifles with detachable magazines in California. Yet behind closed doors, he privately promised to deliver fully automatic machine guns–actual military rifles–and missiles. He also publicly advocated for more transparent government while brokering backroom deals, taking bribes, and corrupting his public office.
To add more to the liberal hypocrisy fire, most mainstream media outlets have ignored the story so far. The L.A. Times and FOX News have covered it (although even FOX’s headline merely states he was arrested, but does not indicate charges include firearms trafficking) in addition to local news outlets, like ABC and San Jose Mercury News. But nationally, liberal media is currently ignoring this story. Last night, MSNBC devoted 16 minutes to the “racism” of the NFL team mascot, the Redskins. Given that gun control is a current political hot-button issue, the silence is deafening.
By Matt MacBradaigh. Matt
is a Christian, Husband, Father, Patriot, and Conservative from the
Pacific Northwest. Matt writes about the Second Amendment, Gun Control,
Gun Rights, and Gun Policy issues and is published on The Bell Towers, The Brenner Brief, PolicyMic. TavernKeepers, and Vocativ.
Follow Me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/2AFight
Follow Me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2ndAmendmentFight
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