The Daily Populous Tuesday September 30th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by abc.net.au and submitted by ecafsub

FBI director Kash Patel gave New Zealand's police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, on a visit to the country earlier this year, local law enforcement agencies have told The Associated Press.

The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols formed part of the display stands Mr Patel presented to at least three senior New Zealand security officials in July.

Mr Patel, the most senior 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 restricted weapons under New Zealand law and possessing one requires an additional permit beyond a regular gun license.

Law enforcement agencies did not specify whether the officials who met with Mr Patel held such permits, but they could not have legally kept the gifts if they did not.

It was not clear what permissions Mr Patel had sought to bring the weapons into the country.

A spokesperson for him told the AP on Tuesday that the FBI would not comment.

Inoperable weapons are treated as though they are operable in New Zealand if modifications could make them workable again.

The pistols were judged by gun regulators to be potentially operable and were destroyed, New Zealand's Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told AP in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Chambers did not specify how the weapons had been rendered inoperable before Mr Patel gifted them. Usually, this means the temporary disabling of the gun's firing mechanism.

Three of New Zealand's most powerful law enforcement figures said they received the gifts at meetings on July 31.

Mr Chambers was one recipient, and the other two were Andrew Hampton, director-general of the country's human intelligence agency NZSIS, and Andrew Clark, director-general of the technical intelligence agency GCSB, according to a joint statement from their departments.

Kash Patel with Richard Chambers (right) during the FBI office opening in Wellington in July. (X: Kash Patel)

A spokesperson for the spy agencies described the gift as "a challenge coin display stand" that included the 3D-printed inoperable weapon "as part of the design".

The officials sought advice on the gifts the next day from the regulator that enforces New Zealand's gun laws, Mr Chambers said.

When the weapons were examined, it was discovered that they were potentially operable.

"To ensure compliance with firearms laws, I instructed police to retain and destroy them," Mr Chambers said.

James Davidson, a former FBI agent who is now president of the FBI Integrity Project, a non-profit that seeks to safeguard the bureau from undue partisan influence, has criticised Mr Patel's appointment.

But Mr Davidson said the gift of the replica pistols appeared "a genuine gesture" from Mr Patel and that their destruction was "quite frankly, an overreaction by the NZSIS, which could have simply rendered the replica inoperable".

New Zealand has strong gun controls

3D-printed weapons are treated the same as other guns in New Zealand.

The country bolstered its gun restrictions following a 2019 white supremacist attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch, when 51 Muslim worshippers were shot dead by an Australian man who had legally amassed a cache of semi-automatic weapons.

Australia has more guns now than before the Port Arthur massacre Photo shows A man stoops to lay a shotgun on a pile of other guns As police hunt a suspected gunman through rugged terrain in Victoria's High Country, there are more than 4 million registered weapons across the country.

The guns Mr Patel gifted to the law enforcement chiefs were not semi-automatic models, now prohibited after the Christchurch massacre.

But there are a suite of other reasons New Zealanders might not legally be able to possess certain weapons, including the specific permits required for pistols.

New Zealand does not have a passionate culture of gun ownership, and the weapons have been viewed more dimly since the mass shooting. Gun ownership is enshrined in New Zealand law as a privilege, not a right.

The country is not short on guns; they are common in rural areas for pest control.

However, violent gun crime is rare, and many urban residents might never have even seen a firearm in person.

It is uncommon even to see police officers carrying weapons, as front-line officers are usually unarmed on patrol and leave their weapons locked in their vehicles.

News of FBI office not disclosed until opening

News of Mr Patel's visit caused ripples in New Zealand at the time because the opening of the new FBI field office in Wellington was not divulged to news outlets or the public until it had already happened.

An FBI statement in July said the move aligned New Zealand with FBI missions in other Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations, which also include the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The office would provide a local mission for FBI staff who have operated with oversight from Canberra, Australia, since 2017, the statement said.

Public records disclosed to local news outlets this month revealed that Mr Patel met with and dined with more than a dozen senior public servants and elected officials, including cabinet ministers, during his visit.

Mr Patel had already provoked mild diplomatic discomfort in Wellington by suggesting in remarks supplied to reporters that the new FBI office aimed to counter China's influence in the South Pacific Ocean, where New Zealand is located.

The comments prompted polite dismissal from officials in Wellington, who said the bolstered FBI presence was primarily to collaborate on child exploitation and drug smuggling crimes.

NuPNua on September 30th, 2025 at 10:11 UTC »

Aren't the FBI supposed to be for internal US affairs?

s73v3m4nn on September 30th, 2025 at 10:11 UTC »

Kash Patel, in his defence, is a fucking dick.

yamirzmmdx on September 30th, 2025 at 10:04 UTC »

...

Sigh.

What a fucking moron.