The California State Senator, Leland Yee, has been charged with the conspiracy to deal firearms, as well as wire fraud. Yee was arrested for promising shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles from a Muslim separatist group to an undercover FBI-agent in exchange for donations towards his campaign. The allegations towards Yee outlined in an affidavit from an FBI agent were not only pointed towards the Senator, but to twenty-five other people as well. According to the court documents, the allegations against Yee included a number of favors that he had requested in exchange for campaign donations. He also performed “official acts” in exchange for donations to get himself out of a $70,000 debt that he acquired during a failed San Francisco mayoral bid.
Ironically, Yee and the other California officials have been trying to get firearms banned from California. They have also attempted to ban all guns including hunting rifles, not just “assault weapons,” while promoting and funding Muslim separatist groups with automatic weapons and shoulder fired missiles.
Source:
Adam Edelman & Michael Sorrentino, “California State Sen. Leland Yee charged with promising guns, missiles from Muslim group to agent for campaign donations,” New York Daily News, March 26, 2014 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/fbi-agents-arrest-u-s-lawmakers-unrelated-corruption-schemes-article-1.1735802
Student Researcher: Ryne Saxner, Indian River State College
Faculty Evaluator: Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D., Indian River State College
ETHICS ALERT
California is well known for its gun control advocacy. It has banned high capacity handguns, restricted concealed carry permits, and not allowed the same access to firearms and ammo, which other states such as Florida permit. As of Wednesday, March 26, 2014, one of the biggest gun control advocates was jailed due to very unethical crimes. The irony of that is, California Senator Leland Yee has been arrested and charged with the conspiracy to deal firearms, as well as wire fraud. He was arrested for promising shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles that would have been provided by a Muslim separatist group to an undercover FBI-agent in exchange for donations towards his campaign. The allegations against Yee were outlined in an affidavit from an FBI agent, which not only pointed to the Senator, but to twenty-five other people as well. According to the court documents, the allegations against Yee included a number of favors that he had requested in exchange for campaign donations. He also performed “official acts” in exchange for donations to get himself out of a $70,000 debt that he acquired during a failed San Francisco mayoral bid. This is highly unethical because how could someone go behind the back of his own state, which he represents at such a high office, while supporting the groups of people that our soldiers are fighting against? His main goal is to ban guns from California completely, but he was willing to take bribes to support his campaign in exchange for weapons that are a whole lot more dangerous than the “assault weapons” he has been trying to ban. As a senator of the United States one is held to a higher standard, and as someone with that power, Yee should have done the right thing. We, as a country, shouldn’t have to worry about corruption, especially in dealing with the enemy that we are fighting against, but it’s unfortunate that we do.
Yee’s acts betray both gun owners and gun control advocates. People who are for gun control feel betrayed because Yee went behind their backs, saying he’s for gun control, but at the same time he take bribes for fire arms to support his campaign. At the same time, people who are law abiding gun owners, who do everything by the rules, feel manipulated because if they are California residents, they have to abide by gun laws that this man has helped pass; and even though he is in jail for his unethical and illegal acts, they still have to follow the laws because they are still in play. Too bad that many government officials use manipulation, deception and other unethical ways to get whatever benefits them, without caring about the people of the nation. Yee should be jailed and charged for his crimes, but at the same time, he’s just one who got caught; there are probably many other people who have gotten away with it.  The media’s role should be to expose such corruption to the people.