Some News Stories Are Just Too Astonishing To Be Fiction

Prominent California State Senator Leland Yee, long-time gun control advocate, indicted as a result of an undercover FBI sting.  From March 26, 2014 Los Angeles Times:

In 2006, Yee was named to the Gun Violence Prevention Honor Roll by the Brady Campaign for his efforts that included co-authoring a first-in-the-nation bill to require new semiautomatic handguns to be equipped with ballistics identification technology known as micro-stamping....

According to an FBI affidavit released after Yee’s arrest Wednesday, Yee accepted a $5,000 campaign check from an undercover agent, and his political consultant, Keith Jackson, told the agent that “Yee fully understood the check being provided to Sen. Yee’s campaign was solely for the purpose of getting an introduction to the arms dealer.”

The affidavit adds, “Yee explained he has known the arms dealer for a number of years and has developed a close relationship with him.” The undercover agent told Yee he wanted automatic weapons and shoulder-fired missiles and offered to pay Yee $100,000 after the first deal.

http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-yee-guns-fbi-affidavit-20140326,0,5723532.story#ixzz2xBAPqEQg

UPDATE: This story gets juicier and juicier.  From another March 26, 2014 Los Angeles Times story:

The agent told Yee he wanted up to $2.5-million worth of weapons. After they arrived in Newark, some would be sent to North Africa or Siciliy, the agent said. Yee asked if he wanted automatic or semiautomatic guns, according to the complaint -- the same kind of weapons the senator has sought to restrict.

During a Feb. 25 meeting, Yee said he had to be careful because of a separate case involving Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), who was wrapped up in a federal bribery sting. But according to the criminal complaint, that didn’t stop him from continuing to discuss a potential weapons deal.

http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-leland-yee-gun-running-20140326,0,4778453.story#ixzz2xBCYx9PS 

UPDATE 2: Here's the indictment. It appears that Sen. Yee is all mobbed up with one of the tongs (Chinese criminal syndicates that go back centuries) as well as local criminals involved in marijuana production, illegal gun trafficking, eCigarette retailing, underage prostitution, murder for hire, and other sordid behaviors that make him fit in perfectly with California Democrats.  There seems to be introduction of legislative bills in exchange for contributions, and a whole network of low-level criminal activity involving a cast of thousands.