FBI Director Kash Patel gifted 3D-printed replica pistols to New Zealand officials during a July 31 visit to Wellington, and the weapons were destroyed just under two months later on September 25 after authorities determined they violated strict local gun laws.
Patel presented the replica revolvers as part of display stands to three senior security officials: New Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, NZSIS Director-General Andrew Hampton, and GCSB Director-General Andrew Clark. Two cabinet ministers, Mark Mitchell and Judith Collins, also received the gifts during Patel’s visit to open the FBI’s first standalone office in the South Pacific nation.
The replicas were Maverick PG22 model revolvers, modeled on brightly colored toy Nerf guns and popular among amateur 3D-printed weapons hobbyists, according to police documents obtained by The Associated Press. Under New Zealand’s firearms law, pistols require an additional permit beyond a standard gun license. Inoperable weapons are treated as illegal if they could be made operable through modifications.
After the officials surrendered the revolvers, New Zealand’s Firearms Safety Authority and Police Armory determined the guns met the legal definition of firearms. Police armory team leader Daniel Millar outlined in an August email how simple it would be to make them operable: “These processes are very straight forward processes and require minimal skills and common ‘handyperson’ tools,” he wrote, noting that “a battery drill and a drill bit for the holes and a small screw for the firing pin” would suffice.
New Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers instructed authorities to destroy the weapons to ensure compliance with firearms laws. “While inoperable in the form they were gifted, a subsequent analysis by the Firearms Safety Authority and Police Armory determined that modifications could have made them operable,” Chambers said in a statement.
Kash Patel’s office did not respond to requests for comment. The maximum prison sentence for illegally possessing a pistol in New Zealand is three years or a fine of 4,000 New Zealand dollars (approximately $2,300). There is no suggestion Patel could be charged with any violation.
New Zealand tightened its gun restrictions in 2019 following a mass shooting at two Christchurch mosques that killed 51 worshippers. An Australian man carried out the attack after amassing a cache of semiautomatic weapons. The country subsequently banned all types of semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles. Unlike the United States, gun ownership in New Zealand is enshrined in law as a privilege, not a right, and violent gun crime remains rare, particularly in urban areas.
Sources
- NBC News — Sept. 30, 2025 reporting on Patel’s gift of inoperable 3D-printed pistols to New Zealand officials and their destruction
- NBC News / Associated Press — Nov. 25, 2025 reporting identifying the gun model as the Maverick PG22 and providing details on how the weapons could be modified
- New York Post — Sept. 30, 2025 coverage of the destroyed replica pistols and New Zealand’s firearms laws
