California State Sen.

Leland Yee Indicted on Weapons

Charges, Was Gun Control Crusader
Undercover FBI Agent Says Lawmaker Offered Introduction to Arms Trafficker in Exchange For
Campaign Donation
By ALYSSA NEWCOMB

March 27, 2014

A California state senator busted on arms trafficking and corruption charges in an FBI sweep has a
legislative record of fighting for stronger gun control laws.
Behind the scenes, Leland Yee, 65, offered to connect an undercover FBI agent with an international
arms trafficker -- all in exchange for campaign donations, according to a federal complaint.
During the investigation, the undercover agent mentioned his desire to spend as much as $2.5 million on
automatic "shoulder-fired" weapons and missiles, the complaint said.
After several months of planning, a meeting with a trafficker was facilitated earlier this month in San
Francisco, the complaint said, in which the group discussed their plan for getting the weapons from the
Philippines.
"Once things start to move, it's going to attract attention. We just got to be extra-extra careful," Yee said,
according to the complaint.
Yee Spearheaded Gun Control Legislation
One month after the Sandy Hook massacre, Yee helped introduce what was seen as one of the toughest
pieces of gun control legislation in the country to ban the "bullet button."
The device allows for quick-change magazines on military-style assault weapons and is legal under
California's assault weapons ban.
Yee's legislation was eventually folded into a package of proposals that were vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown
in October 2013.
After the veto, Yee said he was "recommitted" to passing his legislation and said it would "protect the
public while keeping an appropriately narrow scope."
Lawmaker Busted in Sting
Yee was arrested Wednesday on federal weapons and corruption charges.
"If these allegations are true, Sen. Yee is easily the biggest hypocrite on gun control to walk the halls of

the capitol in Sacramento, if not the entire United States," Alan Gottlieb, chairman for the Citizens
Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said in a statement.
Among the other 25 defendants caught in the sting were Yee's campaign aide, Keith Jackson and
Raymond Chow, a onetime gang leader known as "Shrimp Boy."
Yee, a former San Francisco mayoral candidate who is running to be the next California secretary of
state, has been released from jail.
His attorney, Paul DeMeester, told the Associated Press that Yee planned to plead not guity to the
charges. He declined to further comment on the case.
Copyright 2015 ABC News Internet Ventures