Previous Post
Next Post

Leland Yee (courtesy laobserved.com)

We reported on California state senator Leland Yee’s antics many times over the years. The former senator was one of the first to propose sweeping restrictions on 3D printers, lest one of the unwashed masses of California use one to print a firearm in that gun-free paradise.

In the ultimate ironic twist, it turns out that Leland Yee was himself involved in an plot to run firearms into the state of California — illegally providing the very guns he was publicly decrying. Specifically, machine guns. Actual machine guns. And rocket launchers.

One could make the connection that Yee’s political stance on firearms existed solely to bolster the value of the illegal firearms he was trafficking, but we’ll leave that for another day. A year after that arrest, word comes that Yee has plead guilty to his alleged crimes . . .

From the LA Times:

Former California state Sen. Leland Yee pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering in federal court Wednesday, admitting that he “knowingly and intentionally agreed with another person” to take part in an enterprise and commit at least two offenses and affect state commerce.

Yee, a Democrat from San Francisco, told U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer that he admitted his guilt and knew he could face a harsh sentence, which will be handed down on Oct. 21.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Susan Badger told the court that could include up to 20 years in prison, $250,000 in fines, possible restitution to victims, asset forfeiture and potential deportation if appropriate.

I love it when politicians get their come-uppance. The typical gun control activist (like Mr. Yee) seems to hold a belief that laws are for “the little people,” and don’t apply to important public servants like themselves. I love it when their own arrogance comes back to bite them in the ass.

Previous Post
Next Post

63 COMMENTS

  1. This guy was/is the poster boy for gun control in Kommiefornia. Thanks to him we have bullet buttons and a myriad of other crap. While I hope he gets the max I have a feeling that he pled guilty to some connected liberal judge who will give him a slap on the wrist and we will again see his name on a ballot in the coming years.

    • If he were going before a California court, I am confident that court would provide a cushy sentence. However, Yee went before a federal court. The federal government likes to come down HARD on anyone at the state level in order to assert federal dominance. For that reason I believe we will see the judge assign a harsh sentence. And I haven’t even factored in the fact that Yee was trying to run EVIL firearms — a particularly egregious offense against fedzilla.

      Had Yee been a federal senator and his racketeering was about something other than firearms, then it would probably be a totally different matter.

    • Agreed. And I know it’s petty to feel so much glee that this douchebag got smacked by karma, but I can’t help it.

  2. Still amazed at how quiet they have kept this story in the “mainstream”. I’m sure if he had been a conservative pro-gun legislator his name would be a household word.

    Now if we could only connect Kevin De Leon to him and his illegal activities. CA might have a chance.

  3. Glad to see this gasbag get his comeuppance, but I gotta ask: guilty on just one count? Am I missing something?

    Heck, shouldn’t he be charged as a terrorist for dealing with Islamic Terror groups and their ilk?

  4. He should have plead guilty to one count each of Crimes Against Humanity and Conspiracy to Shred the Constitution, aka, planks 1 and 2 of the Democrat Party Platform.

    Alas, you play the cards you’re dealt, so I’ll take this. After all, a W’s a W any way you get it.

  5. Assistant U.S. Atty. Susan Badger told the court that could include up to
    A. 20 years in prison
    B. $250,000 in fines
    C. possible restitution to victims
    D. asset forfeiture
    E. potential deportation
    F. ALL OF THE ABOVE!

    Now choose the correct answer class.

      • On the plus side, federal sentencing laws forbid traditional “good behavior” that’s seen in many states. In federal prison he’ll have to do 85% of time sentenced to regardless of his behavior. Hopefully he he actually gets sentenced to a significant amount of time though.

  6. Call me cynical in these matters-
    But he’ll get house arrest with a bracelet and a fine that little mikey will pay for him…

    • I think he’ll get a bit worse than that, maybe a couple years in a state prison, with some reductions for good behavior and whatnot.

      I’d bet that he’ll get better if he’s rolled over on parts of the criminal organization (and, fingers crossed, other democratic state officials here…), and worse if this is just a deal to get his case off the books without having to spend the cost of a criminal trial of this size. The evidence against at least some of his crimes, namely the ones he is pleading to, is pretty concrete; maybe Yee is taking the plea now before a more detailed case could be created to get the other charges to stick?

      • Federal crime means federal time. No state pen for this guy. Which for him is probably a good thing, since our prisons are so overcrowded the Federal Courts ordered a complete overhaul to the medical system and the release or transfer of 35,000 prisoners. Give me Club Fed any day!

  7. wonder if he will ask to be sent to the fed prison nearest Shannon so she can visit him on the regular?

      • didn’t say he would get any. hell, John Watts probably ain’t getting any. Just Yee and Shannon make such a pretty couple, we can least foster a continued working relationship so Shannon can see the tea kettle kozie he made in his arts/crafts class and he can see what hopeless ad campaign she is going to run next.

      • “Conjugal visits? Mmmm. Not that I know of. Y’know, minimum-security prison is no picnic. I have a client in there right now. He says the trick is: kick someone’s ass the first day, or become someone’s bitch. Then everything will be all right. W-Why do you ask, anyway?”

  8. Where the heck are Pelosi, Boxer, and Feinstein and why are they not clamoring for this “gun runner” to be locked away under the jail? They are so concerned with gun violence and crime why are they not publicly shaming this dude? Well? How ’bout it?

  9. “A year after that arrest, word comes that Yee has plead guilty to his alleged crimes.”

    He plead guilty, his crimes are no longer alleged.

    And I doubt he’ll do any jail time. Its Kalifornia and he’s a connected politician. He’d have to kill a baby and eat its heart on live TV just to get 3 to 5 in a min security lockup.

  10. NICK YOUR FACTS AS TO THE ALLEGED CRIME ARE WRONG WRONG WRONG. And the link you provided was to one of your own articles that doesn’t say what you seem to indicate it says. Very sloppy.

    There was NEVER a conspiracy to import machine guns into California; and indeed, the guns were not going to be sold anywhere in the United States either. This is all laid out in the indictment, which is available on line at CalGuns.org. Instead, Yee was to act as a middle man (facilitator) on a deal that would have shipped automatic weapons from the Philippines to Africa, with a transshipment on a New Jersey pier (which is where the importing into the US allegation comes from) in exchange for a substantial campaign contribution. At the time, Yee was being term-limited out of his senatorial seat and was running for Secretary of State, but he was still $70,000 in the hole on his last senate campaign. So he needed money, and the Tong needed a middleman to grease the deal.

  11. Such a long, detailed article, and not one sentence about his vigorous anti-gun legislative crusade. Then again, it did appear in the LA Times.

  12. He should get 10 years just for betrayal of public trust and 10 years for hypocrisy. in addition to the other 20 years.

  13. Its is a great day in CA. And if Feinstein and Boxer have heart attacks on July 4th, that would be a AWESOME day in addition to that Independence thing.

  14. As a Californian I’m not surprised he took the deal. We are a Democratic state and they control EVERYTHING. I doubt he will do serious time as he is too long in the game without knowing where all the skeletons are. I’d even guess he does no kind of Hard Time. If he’s not happy with taking his medicine to protect his fellow criminals in the state Capitol then he could make it difficult for them. That’s not gonna happen.

  15. I don’t get it. Isn’t this guy allowed to exercise his natural, civil right to self-defense? I don’t know why he pled ‘guilty’ to the simple act of trying to protect himself from a tyrannical government. The weapons he is accused o of possessing only serve to even the match between the private citizen and the firepower of the government. Don’t we all agree that RTKABA “shall not be infringed”? Just because Yee is a gun control nut, does that mean he gives up his right to own and possess firearms? Yes, he committed crimes, but those crimes are criminal themselves because they violate the Second Amendment ! Declaring, “what’s good for me is not also good for you.” is not a crime.

  16. He’ll serve 2 years in a minimum security prison/resort and be pardoned by Obama on his last day in office.

  17. You wrote the word “allegation”. In Yee’s case, shouldn’t that be ‘arrigation’?

    I’m yet to hear any Republicans calling on California Democrats to “publicly distance themselves” from Yee or to, “repudiate his anti-Constitutional beliefs”.

    Oh, wait… they’re Milquetoast Republicans.

  18. if he makes it to prison, in the Feds, he’ll ride out his time in SHU. Political status and gun running and all. If he doesn’t, he will anyway. Just sayin.

    • No, he’ll join the rest of the disgraced pols and minor league players in a Level 1 camp behind a 3 foot fence.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here