FBI Director Kash Patel's Replica Gun Gifts Destroyed for Violating New Zealand's Strict Firearms Laws

Kash Patel was in Wellington to open the FBI's first standalone office in New Zealand.

Wellington, New Zealand:

During his visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel presented the country's police and intelligence chiefs with gifts of inoperable pistols that violated local gun regulations and subsequently had to be destroyed, according to information provided to The Associated Press by New Zealand law enforcement agencies.

The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols were incorporated into display stands that Patel gave to at least three senior New Zealand security officials in July. Patel, the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit New Zealand thus far, was in Wellington for the inauguration of the FBI's first independent office in the country.

Under New Zealand law, pistols are heavily restricted weapons requiring special permits beyond standard gun licenses. Law enforcement agencies did not specify whether the officials who met with Patel possessed such permits, but without them, keeping the gifts would have been illegal.

It remains unclear what authorizations Patel had sought to bring these weapons into New Zealand. When contacted by AP on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Patel indicated that the FBI would not provide comments on the matter.

In New Zealand, non-functioning weapons are legally treated as operational if they could potentially be modified to work again. The pistols were assessed by gun regulators as potentially operable and were subsequently destroyed, according to New Zealand's Police Commissioner Richard Chambers in a statement to AP on Tuesday.

Chambers did not elaborate on how the weapons had been rendered inoperable before Patel presented them. Typically, this involves temporarily disabling the firearm's firing mechanism.

Three top New Zealand law enforcement officials confirmed receiving these gifts during meetings on July 31. Recipients included Chambers, along with Andrew Hampton, Director-General of the country's human intelligence agency NZSIS, and Andrew Clark, Director-General of the technical intelligence agency GCSB, as stated in a joint communication from their departments.

A representative for the intelligence agencies described the gift as "a challenge coin display stand" that incorporated the 3D-printed inoperable weapon "as part of the design." The officials sought guidance about the gifts the following day from the authority that oversees New Zealand's gun regulations, according to Chambers.

Examination of the weapons revealed they were potentially functional.

"To ensure compliance with firearms laws, I instructed Police to retain and destroy them," Chambers stated.

James Davidson, a former FBI agent who now leads the FBI Integrity Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the bureau from partisan influence, has been critical of Patel's appointment.

However, Davidson characterized the gift of replica pistols as "a genuine gesture" from Patel and described their destruction as "quite frankly, an overreaction by the NZSIS, which could have simply rendered the replica inoperable."

In New Zealand, 3D-printed weapons are regulated the same as conventional firearms. The country strengthened its gun control measures following a 2019 white supremacist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, where 51 Muslim worshippers were killed by an Australian man who had legally acquired a collection of semiautomatic weapons.

The firearms Patel gifted to the law enforcement leaders were not semiautomatic models prohibited after the Christchurch tragedy. Nevertheless, there are numerous other reasons why certain weapons might be illegal for New Zealanders to possess, including the specific permits required for pistols.

New Zealand lacks a passionate gun ownership culture, and attitudes toward weapons have become more negative since the mass shooting. Gun ownership is defined in New Zealand legislation as a privilege rather than a right.

The country has plenty of firearms, commonly found in rural areas for pest management. However, violent gun crime is uncommon, and many urban residents may never have seen a firearm in person.

Even police officers are rarely seen carrying weapons. Front-line officers typically patrol unarmed and keep their weapons secured in their vehicles.

Patel's visit created interest in New Zealand at the time because the establishment of the new FBI field office in Wellington was not announced to news media or the public until after it had occurred. An FBI statement in July explained that this move aligned New Zealand with FBI operations in other Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations, which include the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The office would provide a local base for FBI personnel who have been operating under supervision from Canberra, Australia, since 2017, according to the statement.

Public records released to local media outlets this month revealed that during his visit, Patel met and dined with more than a dozen senior civil servants and elected officials, including Cabinet ministers. As of Tuesday, it was not immediately apparent how many officials received pistols as gifts.

Patel had already created mild diplomatic tension in Wellington by suggesting in comments provided to reporters that the new FBI office aimed to counter China's influence in the South Pacific Ocean, where New Zealand is situated. These remarks prompted polite disagreement from Wellington officials, who maintained that the enhanced FBI presence was primarily for collaboration on child exploitation and drug trafficking crimes. Beijing criticized Patel's comments.