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LA county sheriff in the limelight

Newsweek has the story. The relevant part:

"The sheriff has issued concealed-weapon permits to such actors as Ben Affleck, and in 1999, less than a year after being sworn in, he set up an “executive reserves” unit that allowed celebrities to wear a badge and carry a gun. All they had to do was take 64 hours of training and pass the department’s background check.

Critics of the program, who said it was nothing more than a sly way for Baca to pay back friends and supporters, were incensed when, less than a month after the unit was initiated, one of those reservists—Scott Zacky of the Zacky Farms chicken dynasty—was stripped of his badge for drawing a gun outside his Bel Air mansion after mistaking a couple on a date for car thieves. The unit was suspended in late 1999 after one member, a wealthy Baca supporter who owns a jewelry store, was arrested for money laundering."

Here's video of the sheriff explaining that he's issued less than 500 CCW permits for the county, including those issued to retired federal agents, judges, and "victims of violent crime." It'd appear that to get one you have to be a campaign contributor, a public official, or already have been victimized.