‘GTA 5’ PC Police Mocked Online After California Gun Control Ally Leland Yee Was Caught Selling Rocket Launchers
When it comes to video games and GTA 5, PC police have long detested the Rockstar series for its depiction of violence. In California, gun control supporter Leland Yee was known to wag his finger at gamers who played Grand Theft Auto 5, but now he is facing years in prison after the FBI caught him selling rocket launchers.
In a related report by the Inquisitr, Katt Williams, Too $hort, and Suge Knight were all apparently indirectly involved with the Leland Yee corruption case, and it is claimed some real life grand theft auto occurred when one of those men stole the comedian’s Bentley.
Authorities had former California state Senator Leland Yee arrested in March of 2014 after an undercover FBI agent met with Yee and discussed the purchase of assault rifles and rocket launchers. The Democratic Senator claimed his Filipino contacts would purchase them and Yee apparently was also trying to broker a deal between an international arms dealer and an Italian gangster from New Jersey. In addition, the FBI claims Yee “introduced a businessman to state legislators who had significant influence over pending medical marijuana legislation.”
On Wednesday, Leland Yee pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and admitted that he accepted bribes, extorted money, and once offered to smuggle weapons from the Philippines. As part of a plea agreement, Yee only pleaded guilty to the racketeering charge so the remaining charges would be dropped.
“Mr. Yee must now live with the consequences of betraying the trust that was placed in him when he became a public servant,” U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said in a prepared statement. “It is particularly disappointing and troubling when our elected officials violate their obligation to fairly represent their constituents. This office will continue to devote the resources necessary to ensure that our elected officials govern within the law.”
The anti-gaming critic faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, but the final sentence will not be handed out until October 21, 2015.
Leland Yee is well-known in the gaming community since he helped push legislation which criminalized the sale of violent video games to children. Although the U.S. Supreme Court eventually struck down the law as unconstitutional, Yee condemned GTA 5 gamers for creating a culture where gun control laws were difficult to pass.
“Gamers have just got to quiet down. Gamers have no credibility in this argument,” Yee claimed at the time. “This is all about their lust for violence and the industry’s lust for money. This is a billion-dollar industry. This is about their self-interest.”
California’s gun control laws were also strengthened by the former Senator. Yee authored legislation which required the study of the safe storage of firearms in addition to introducing a bill for an assault weapon ban.
As might be guessed, fans of GTA 5 online are mocking the former California Senator for these hypocritical stances.
Video games are bad! bribery, racketeering, gun running and corruption are good. criminal CA democrat #LelandYee pic.twitter.com/fKWvUlhNJt
— RockPrincess (@Rockprincess818) July 2, 2015
The message here, Polygon, is that “vocal critics” of sexism, violence etc in gaming *always* have huge skeletons https://t.co/m86qxOoaZg — Milo Yiannopoulos (@Nero) July 2, 2015
Former Senator Leland Yee, one of the loudest to claim video games create violence has plead guilty to gun-running, extortion and bribery.
— P Scott Patterson (@OriginalPSP) July 2, 2015
The GTA 5 PC police seem to have lost this round. Considering that Rockstar has a history of mocking real life events within their games, it is possible we will see a digital parody of Leland Yee when GTA 6 eventually comes out.
[Image via Game Informer]
