New Zealand police and spy bosses destroy Kash Patel’s gifts: They were illegal

During a visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel presented senior police and intelligence officials with 3D-printed replica pistols — gifts that turned out to be illegal under the country’s strict gun laws and were later destroyed, The Associated Press reported citing officials.

The plastic pistols, built into display stands, were handed to three of New Zealand’s top security figures on July 31, including Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, NZSIS Director-General Andrew Hampton, and GCSB Director-General Andrew Clark. Patel, the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit the country so far, was in Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand.

Pistols are tightly controlled in New Zealand, requiring a special permit even beyond a standard gun license. Regulators determined the replicas could potentially be made operable and ordered them surrendered and destroyed. “To ensure compliance with firearms laws, I instructed Police to retain and destroy them,” Chambers said.

A spokesperson for New Zealand’s spy agencies described the gift as a “challenge coin display stand” that incorporated the replica weapon. Chambers said the officials sought advice from gun regulators the next day, leading to the decision.

James Davidson, a former FBI agent and now president of the FBI Integrity Project, criticized Patel’s appointment but called the gifts “a genuine gesture,” adding that their destruction was “quite frankly, an overreaction.”

New Zealand has some of the world’s toughest gun laws, strengthened after the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks that killed 51 worshippers. Firearms ownership is treated as a privilege rather than a right, and frontline police officers typically do not carry guns while on patrol.

Patel’s visit also stirred attention because the FBI office’s opening was not publicly announced until after it happened. In July, the bureau said the move brought New Zealand into line with FBI operations in other “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing nations — the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.