Wellington: FBI Director Kash Patel, during a July visit to New Zealand, presented senior police and intelligence officials with 3D-printed pistols that were illegal to possess under local law, prompting authorities to confiscate and destroy the items, New Zealand law enforcement told The Associated Press.

The plastic replica pistols, included as part of display stands, were gifted to at least three top security officials: Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, Andrew Hampton, Director-General of the NZSIS (human intelligence agency), and Andrew Clark, Director-General of GCSB (technical intelligence agency).

“To ensure compliance with firearms laws, I instructed the Police to retain and destroy them,” Chambers said, confirming the weapons were judged “potentially operable” and thus could not remain in possession of the recipients.

A spokesperson for Patel described the gifts as part of a “challenge coin display stand” that incorporated the 3D-printed pistols as a design feature. However, New Zealand regulations treat inoperable weapons as operable if modifications could make them functional. Authorities determined these pistols could potentially be made operable and acted accordingly.

It remains unclear what permissions Patel sought to bring the weapons into New Zealand. The FBI declined to comment.

James Davidson, former FBI agent and president of the nonprofit FBI Integrity Project, said the gift appeared “a genuine gesture” from Patel, but described their destruction as “quite frankly, an overreaction by the NZSIS, which could have simply rendered the replica inoperable.”

New Zealand enforces strict gun control laws, especially following the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in which a white supremacist killed 51 worshippers using legally acquired semiautomatic weapons. While the pistols gifted by Patel were not semiautomatic, possessing pistols in the country requires specific permits, and even inoperable 3D-printed firearms are subject to regulation.

“3D-printed weapons are treated the same as other guns in New Zealand,” the Police Commissioner noted.

Gun ownership in New Zealand is considered a privilege rather than a right. The country generally restricts firearms in urban areas, and front-line officers typically do not carry guns while on patrol.

The incident highlights the strict regulatory approach New Zealand takes toward firearms, even in diplomatic and ceremonial contexts, following heightened sensitivity around gun violence in recent years. AP