Wild West: Guns, Drugs, Bribes, and California Politics

Keith Farrell

Democrat State Senator Leland Yee of California has been arrested for facilitating gun running from the Philippines in exchange for campaign contributions.

Leland, a longtime gun control proponent, is also being charged with selling legislative influence. Authorities allege that Yee is one part of a large investigation involving organized crime, gun trafficking, drugs, bribes and contracted murder.

Follow TLR on Google+

While corruption and hypocrisy from lawmakers is a common occurrence, Yee has taken it to a new level. The activities in the criminal complaint detail organized crime being run out of a prominent CA legislator’s office.

Yee has been instrumental in limiting California residents 2nd Amendment rights. It appears that for the right price, however, Yee would personally hook you up with his Philippine gun running connection.







Is there a double standard? Yee is expected to plead not guilty to six counts of public corruption and charges of arms trafficking. If convicted, Yee may face considerable prison time. Consider, however, if a regular citizen had been charged with running illegal firearms from the Philippines. Depending on the source of the guns, that citizen could be facing terrorism charges, and the media would certainly condemn them as a violent extremist.

Yee will certainly see his time in the headlines for this, but such defamatory terms as “terrorist” or “extremist” will not be used. If anything, the charges should be more serious when levied against a lawmaker who used the authority his constituents vested in him for his own gain, illegally profiting off of the very laws he helped to pass.