My understanding, albeit remote, is that is he is one of them from the get-go.
The folks trying to shut down these shows are dumb as a bag of hair. The shows are advertised weeks in advance, have signs up on a big marquee, have SFPD cops all over, directing traffic, you name it. BATF, NRA and undercover guys are all over. You got cub reporters trying to make their bones on a big story by trying to buy a gun illegally. Yeah, sounds like a great place to try to pull off a covert gun buy.