Call the NYPD
And report a gun crime in their city:
At his residence at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, Zalmay Khalilzad displays a banged-up AK-47 assault rifle from Saddam Hussein’s arsenal: a souvenir from a war Khalilzad supported and a regime he helped topple.
Possession of an unregistered NFA weapon is illegal.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:34 am
I wonder if gun laws could fall under diplomatic immunity statutes…
April 21st, 2008 at 9:42 am
He works for us I believe..
April 21st, 2008 at 9:44 am
It’s “possession” – not “Position”.
That is unbelievable.
I was in NYC a few years ago and looked up gun stores in the Yellow Pages.
There were about 3 or 4 in Manhatten, IIRC.
And I did go to the Berretta Gallery, which is quite awesome.
They have a shotgun (Berretta, of course) that was owned by my favorite author, Ernest Hemingway.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:48 am
He would fall under diplomatic immunity. If our government doesn’t like it, they can declare him persona non grata, or ask his embassy to waive his immunity. I doubt either will happen.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:32 am
He’s the US ambassador to the UN so no diplomatic immunity in the US. It is simply a case of “like us but better”.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:33 am
No diplomatic immunity. He is a US Citizen and long time State Department employee. He is serving there on behalf of the U.S. I’d suspect his weapon is owned by the United States and is in his possession as a function of his role in the executive branch.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Countertop: I’ve wondered about this for quite a while. What import laws or inspection did that weapon, as well as Saddam’s Browning Highpower that Bush has in the Oval Office, have to go through? What’s the controlling legal authority? Can any legislator get any gun from anywhere and possess it?
Looks like it. How so?
I’ve always thought it should be a defense against prosecution under the equal protection amendment that if a public figure is doing it and going free, so should any citizen.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
They don’t let soldiers bring AK47s back in. Period. How did this weapon GET to this man?
When they were looking for the perfect plaintiff for the DC case, I always thought they should have used GW Bush and his illegally imported and possessed Browning Highpower.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:26 pm
drstrangegun,
Guns are in fact covered by diplomatic immunity. For example, members of the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) have the ability to carry weapons anywhere in the world. They are considered federal law enforcement officers, allowing them to carry in the US; overseas, they are also Diplomats, giving them full immunity. I know several DSS agents, and they’ll frequently carry everywhere, on airplanes, on the streets of Lagos…
In this case, since Amb. Khalilzad’s an American Diplomat in the US, but he’s not DSS, it doesn’t quite apply. There are a number of ways to get that particular weapon into the US, and yes, paperwork is required. To be honest, I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was made non-functional, in order to give it to a private citizen.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Ah, I didn’t realize he was a US representative and not an Iraqi one. I suspect countertop is correct and that he’s possessing it under the authority of the United States, which makes it legal.