FBI gifts NZ officials 3D pistol replicas, later destruction ordered

FBI Director Kash Patel gifted inoperable 3D printed replica pistols to senior New Zealand law enforcement and intelligence chiefs during a visit in July, but regulators later judged the items could be made operable and ordered them destroyed, New Zealand officials said Wednesday.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Director-General Andrew Hampton and Government Communications Security Bureau Director-General Andrew Clark each received a challenge coin display stand that included a plastic replica pistol, officials said. The gifts were presented during meetings on July 31, when Patel traveled to Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in the country.

Chambers said he sought advice from the Firearms Safety Authority the day after the meeting. Firearms specialists and the police armoury determined that, although the replicas had been presented as inoperable, modifications could have rendered them functional. To ensure compliance with New Zealand firearms law, Chambers said he instructed police to retain and destroy the items. A spokesperson for the intelligence agencies said the gifts were handed to police and also destroyed...