New Zealand’s strict anti-gun laws forced authorities to destroy inoperable, 3D-printed firearms that formed a display gifted to Kiwi officials by FBI Director Kash Patel.
The replica pistols were presented to New Zealand’s police commissioner and two senior intelligence officials during a July 31 meeting in Wellington, where Patel took part in a ceremony to mark the opening of the FBI’s first standalone office in the South Pacific island nation.
“To ensure compliance with firearms laws, I instructed Police to retain and destroy them,” New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
On a visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the country’s police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws. APUnder New Zealand’s strict firearms laws, possessing a pistol requires an additional permit on top of a gun license. It’s unclear if the officials that met with Patel held such permits.
Inoperable firearms are also treated as operable if modifications could make them functionable, which authorities determined was the case with the 3D-printed guns gifted by Patel.
The 3D-printed pistols gifted by Patel were later surrendered and destroyed. Will Oliver – Pool via CNP / MEGANew Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) Director-General Andrew Hampton, Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) Director-General Andrew Clark and Chambers were the three officials forced to turn in their gifts, according to the outlet.
The gifts were described by an NZSIS and GCSB spokesperson as “a challenge coin display stand” where the replica pistols served “as part of the design.”
FBI Integrity Project President James Davidson, a critic of Patel’s, described the destruction of the inoperable weapons as “an overreaction.”
When the weapons were examined by New Zealand officials, it was discovered they were potentially operable. REUTERS
“To ensure compliance with firearms laws, I instructed Police to retain and destroy them,” New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said. APDavidson said gifting the displays seemed to be “a genuine gesture” from Patel.
He noted that the New Zealand authorities “could have simply rendered the replica inoperable,” if there were concerns about the 3D-printed guns.
Unlike the US, gun ownership in New Zealand is enshrined as a privilege, not a right.
The country cracked down on firearms in 2019, following an attack on two mosques in Christchurch that left 51 worshipers dead.
The mass shooting was the worst in New Zealand’s history, and semiautomatic guns were banned after the Christchurch massacre.
The replica pistols gifted by Patel were not semiautomatic models.
The FBI declined to comment.
With Post wires
