You know what’s a great thing to do when you’re visiting a foreign country in a diplomatic role as part of a joint effort to fight crime? Bring some illegal weapons.
At least that’s what FBI Director Kash Patel apparently believes.
When visiting New Zealand to open the FBI’s first office earlier this year, Patel brought “inoperable plastic 3D-printed replica” pistols and gave them to at least three high-level police, security, and intelligence officials.
That would be a super weird thing to take to any country, to be honest. But bringing them to New Zealand is a special kind of stupid.
While inoperable, the pistols could be modified to be operable, which is illegal in New Zealand. In fact, even if someone has a regular gun license, they need an additional permit for a pistol in the country. Violating that law can result in a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine of up to 4,000 New Zealand dollars.
