Barman's All New Second-hand Shotgun Saga (by popular request)

[Barman]

Firstly the context.

It is very easy to buy a shotgun here - you visit the shop, pay for the gun and leave with it. The shop fills out all the paperwork and (from memory) you pop into the police station for a stamp & sign and then to the district office to get your shotgun licence... 

...which is what my mate Graeme did when I introduced him to clay pigeon shooting.

Unfortunately, he died a couple of years ago and his wife said that she wanted me to have his gun. It has no financial value, it is an old Baikal Russian over and under - probably fourth or fifth hand and worth no more than €200 I should think. But, it obviously has sentimental value and she wanted it gone from the house so I was happy to have it! 

So, given how easy it is to buy a gun here I assumed that transferring a gun from one person to another would be very simple. Well, it is simple because I have done it. Sign the form, pay a transfer fee and bish-bosh. 

But... if the owner of the gun is deceased then it becomes very complicated... very, very complicated as I have discovered... 

Police Station #1
I was going to Limassol so decided to call into Limassol police station (I live in Limassol district) with the gun.

I found the right room and was served by a laydee police officer. 

I explained the situation, gestured towards the gun and waited for her reaction. Shock and awe probably describes it quite accurately. It was the look on her face that gave me the impression that this might not be as simple as I first thought... 

After thinking about it for a bit she produced a sheaf of forms. She said, "you have to fill these in but they are only available in Greek", having obviously realised that my ability to read or write Greek was on par with my ability to read or write the scribble that Arabs are so fond of... 

So, I gave her my most pathetic look and she took pity on me and filled out all of the forms, in Greek longhand. Amazingly all the information, I mean all of it was on her computer, my details, Graeme's details, his gun, my gun, etc. But she still had to fill it all out... 

Eventually she finished and Handed me the sheaf of papers. She said, "You sign here and here and Graeme's wife signs here. His wife's signature has to be authorised by the village Muchtar (Mayor). Then come back here but don't bring the gun again as it is illegal!" 

So I delivered all the forms to Graeme's wife along with all my stuff, shotgun licence, etc. and she made an appointment with the Muchtar. He wouldn't sign it. He said she had to go to the police station in Pafos...

Police Station #2 follows in Part 2...

[apc2010]

And you are suprised why......

[apc2010]

Walking into a police station with a gun ..is one of the reasons I live here ........

[Barman]

And you are suprised why......

I'm sort of resigned to it now but I've been in four police stations for this and have to visit another this afternoon... Even by Cypriot standards this is a long drawn out thing... 

[Barman]

Walking into a police station with a gun ..is one of the reasons I live here ........

 

[apc2010]

And you are suprised why......

I'm sort of resigned to it now but I've been in four police stations for this and have to visit another this afternoon... Even by Cypriot standards this is a long drawn out thing... 

Try getting permission to sell alcohol..........   I even had to go to the church .....

[Barman]

And you are suprised why......

I'm sort of resigned to it now but I've been in four police stations for this and have to visit another this afternoon... Even by Cypriot standards this is a long drawn out thing... 

Try getting permission to sell alcohol..........   I even had to go to the church .....

It might come to that yet! 

[Barman]

Police Station #2
So armed with the sheaf of papers and other corroborating evidence I headed off to Pafos police station with Graeme's wife...

The guy on the gate directs us to a scruffy little office containing a scruffy little policeman sitting at (your guessed it) a scruffy little desk with a computer sitting on it. The only other contents of the room are a large photocopier, a shredder, a laser printer and a large set of 'pigeon holes' containing numerous piles of forms (this reads like The Adventure Game - I see no cave here!). 

So, I explain the position with the gun, that we have completed all the forms and that the Muchtar has refused to sign the form and suggested we visit the police station. He takes the sheaf of papers, looks at the first two pages, says, "oxi (no)" then swivels round in his chair and drops the whole sheaf of forms into the shredder! Bzzzzzzzzzt - all gone! 

He says, "you can't do that", then proceeds to take more forms from the pigeon holes and starts to fill them in...  he wants to know if I have any ID, I offer my passport and Cyprus ID card. he doesn't want the passport, only the ID card will do. He then needs to know address, phone number, etc. etc. all of which was on the papers he has just shredded and which I know is on the computer in front of him!

He then turns to Graeme's wife and goes through the whole thing with her filling out the forms in Greek longhand. Goes through the will, the death certificate the marriage certificate, etc. Actually, you have to be fair to the Cypriot police - they are all literate! 

He then goes through a whole phase of photocopying stuff (Cypriots love a photocopy, I have often thought that it would be a good business to be selling copiers or just toner). Some stuff he copies and then shreds! He prints something out from the PC, tears it in half and shreds the bottom half. He then photocopies the top half onto a sheet of A4 then shreds the top half... This all takes ages...

He then hands me a form and says that I have to take it to 'the other police station next to the fire station' (at the other end of town) where they will sign and stamp it to certify that I am a suitable person to hold a shotgun! I say, "no I already have a shotgun, here is my licence, I surely don't need to do that again?". He gives me a withering look and says, "you just have to". 

He hands another form to Graeme's wife and says, "you have to take this to the tax office and they will produce a certificate showing that your husband doesn't owe any tax". She says, "no I have already done the probate thing and it is all finished and complete all taxes paid, everything in my name." He gives her a withering look and says, "you just have to". 

His parting words - don't bring the gun back here - it is illegal! 

So, somewhat deflated we head off to the tax office...

[apc2010]

Police Station #2
So armed with the sheaf of papers and other corroborating evidence I headed off to Pafos police station with Graeme's wife...

The guy on the gate directs us to a scruffy little office containing a scruffy little policeman sitting at (your guessed it) a scruffy little desk with a computer sitting on it. The only other contents of the room are a large photocopier, a shredder, a laser printer and a large set of 'pigeon holes' containing numerous piles of forms (this reads like The Adventure Game - I see no cave here!). 

So, I explain the position with the gun, that we have completed all the forms and that the Muchtar has refused to sign the form and suggested we visit the police station. He takes the sheaf of papers, looks at the first two pages, says, "oxi (no)" then swivels round in his chair and drops the whole sheaf of forms into the shredder! Bzzzzzzzzzt - all gone! 

He says, "you can't do that", then proceeds to take more forms from the pigeon holes and starts to fill them in...  he wants to know if I have any ID, I offer my passport and Cyprus ID card. he doesn't want the passport, only the ID card will do. He then needs to know address, phone number, etc. etc. all of which was on the papers he has just shredded and which I know is on the computer in front of him!

He then turns to Graeme's wife and goes through the whole thing with her filling out the forms in Greek longhand. Goes through the will, the death certificate the marriage certificate, etc. Actually, you have to be fair to the Cypriot police - they are all literate! 

He then goes through a whole phase of photocopying stuff (Cypriots love a photocopy, I have often thought that it would be a good business to be selling copiers or just toner). Some stuff he copies and then shreds! He prints something out from the PC, tears it in half and shreds the bottom half. He then photocopies the top half onto a sheet of A4 then shreds the top half... This all takes ages...

He then hands me a form and says that I have to take it to 'the other police station next to the fire station' (at the other end of town) where they will sign and stamp it to certify that I am a suitable person to hold a shotgun! I say, "no I already have a shotgun, here is my licence, I surely don't need to do that again?". He gives me a withering look and says, "you just have to". 

He hands another form to Graeme's wife and says, "you have to take this to the tax office and they will produce a certificate showing that your husband doesn't owe any tax". She says, "no I have already done the probate thing and it is all finished and complete all taxes paid, everything in my name." He gives her a withering look and says, "you just have to". 

His parting words - don't bring the gun back here - it is illegal! 

So, somewhat deflated we head off to the tax office...

   moving forward.....

[Barman]

Police Station #2
So armed with the sheaf of papers and other corroborating evidence I headed off to Pafos police station with Graeme's wife...

The guy on the gate directs us to a scruffy little office containing a scruffy little policeman sitting at (your guessed it) a scruffy little desk with a computer sitting on it. The only other contents of the room are a large photocopier, a shredder, a laser printer and a large set of 'pigeon holes' containing numerous piles of forms (this reads like The Adventure Game - I see no cave here!). 

So, I explain the position with the gun, that we have completed all the forms and that the Muchtar has refused to sign the form and suggested we visit the police station. He takes the sheaf of papers, looks at the first two pages, says, "oxi (no)" then swivels round in his chair and drops the whole sheaf of forms into the shredder! Bzzzzzzzzzt - all gone! 

He says, "you can't do that", then proceeds to take more forms from the pigeon holes and starts to fill them in...  he wants to know if I have any ID, I offer my passport and Cyprus ID card. he doesn't want the passport, only the ID card will do. He then needs to know address, phone number, etc. etc. all of which was on the papers he has just shredded and which I know is on the computer in front of him!

He then turns to Graeme's wife and goes through the whole thing with her filling out the forms in Greek longhand. Goes through the will, the death certificate the marriage certificate, etc. Actually, you have to be fair to the Cypriot police - they are all literate! 

He then goes through a whole phase of photocopying stuff (Cypriots love a photocopy, I have often thought that it would be a good business to be selling copiers or just toner). Some stuff he copies and then shreds! He prints something out from the PC, tears it in half and shreds the bottom half. He then photocopies the top half onto a sheet of A4 then shreds the top half... This all takes ages...

He then hands me a form and says that I have to take it to 'the other police station next to the fire station' (at the other end of town) where they will sign and stamp it to certify that I am a suitable person to hold a shotgun! I say, "no I already have a shotgun, here is my licence, I surely don't need to do that again?". He gives me a withering look and says, "you just have to". 

He hands another form to Graeme's wife and says, "you have to take this to the tax office and they will produce a certificate showing that your husband doesn't owe any tax". She says, "no I have already done the probate thing and it is all finished and complete all taxes paid, everything in my name." He gives her a withering look and says, "you just have to". 

His parting words - don't bring the gun back here - it is illegal! 

So, somewhat deflated we head off to the tax office...

   moving forward.....

 

[Barman]

Tax Office
So the woman at the first desk says, "how much do you want to pay?" and holds her hand out! We say, "we don't want to pay anything, we just need a certificate of tax owed". She looks as deflated as we feel and directs us down the corridor to another reception area... 

We explain the situation again and the woman says, "second corridor, room22". the tax office in Pafos is a huge maze (you wouldn't know Apey )...

So we take the second corridor, knock on the door of room 22 and walk in to find we are standing next to the reception that we have just been sent from. The woman says, "NO! room 22!". I said, "this IS room 22" and open the door again so she can see the number on it. So she sends us to room 21 across the corridor instead... 

Room 21 contains a rather bored looking young woman sitting at a desk with a computer and surrounded by piles of files...

We explain that if she can just print off a statement of Graeme's account showing that he owes no tax we will be very grateful and out of her hair lickety-split! All the probate is complete and we just need a certificate... 

So, she looks it up on the computer and obviously finds what she needs... she then hands us two forms, one six pages long and the other two pages - she explains, "you have to fill these forms in, but they are only available in Greek"... The forms must contain hundreds and hundreds of fields and of course, the information is all securely store away on the computer that is sitting in front of her!

So, Graeme's wife (having some 'form' with the tax office when doing the probate) says, "but I can't read Greek, how can I fill that lot in?". She shrugs. Graeme's wife adds, "but I'm going back to the UK on Thursday, I won't have time to do this". She shrugs. I add, "and at the police station they said it was urgent"... 

She shrugs again but, probably realising that he phone hasn't rung and nobody else has knocked on her door cannot really claim to be too busy to help and says, "look you only have to fill in the form, here (marks with pen), here, here, here, here, here and here". Sensing weakness, Graeme's wife responds, "well, we may as well fill it in now then!". 

So we quickly work through the form, Graeme's name here, address here, ID card number here, phone number here, etc. It just takes a few minutes...

Having completed the forms, she staples them together and adds them to the pile of folders on her desk.... "We'll call you in a month when it is ready...." 

[apc2010]

Police Station #2
So armed with the sheaf of papers and other corroborating evidence I headed off to Pafos police station with Graeme's wife...

The guy on the gate directs us to a scruffy little office containing a scruffy little policeman sitting at (your guessed it) a scruffy little desk with a computer sitting on it. The only other contents of the room are a large photocopier, a shredder, a laser printer and a large set of 'pigeon holes' containing numerous piles of forms (this reads like The Adventure Game - I see no cave here!). 

So, I explain the position with the gun, that we have completed all the forms and that the Muchtar has refused to sign the form and suggested we visit the police station. He takes the sheaf of papers, looks at the first two pages, says, "oxi (no)" then swivels round in his chair and drops the whole sheaf of forms into the shredder! Bzzzzzzzzzt - all gone! 

He says, "you can't do that", then proceeds to take more forms from the pigeon holes and starts to fill them in...  he wants to know if I have any ID, I offer my passport and Cyprus ID card. he doesn't want the passport, only the ID card will do. He then needs to know address, phone number, etc. etc. all of which was on the papers he has just shredded and which I know is on the computer in front of him!

He then turns to Graeme's wife and goes through the whole thing with her filling out the forms in Greek longhand. Goes through the will, the death certificate the marriage certificate, etc. Actually, you have to be fair to the Cypriot police - they are all literate! 

He then goes through a whole phase of photocopying stuff (Cypriots love a photocopy, I have often thought that it would be a good business to be selling copiers or just toner). Some stuff he copies and then shreds! He prints something out from the PC, tears it in half and shreds the bottom half. He then photocopies the top half onto a sheet of A4 then shreds the top half... This all takes ages...

He then hands me a form and says that I have to take it to 'the other police station next to the fire station' (at the other end of town) where they will sign and stamp it to certify that I am a suitable person to hold a shotgun! I say, "no I already have a shotgun, here is my licence, I surely don't need to do that again?". He gives me a withering look and says, "you just have to". 

He hands another form to Graeme's wife and says, "you have to take this to the tax office and they will produce a certificate showing that your husband doesn't owe any tax". She says, "no I have already done the probate thing and it is all finished and complete all taxes paid, everything in my name." He gives her a withering look and says, "you just have to". 

His parting words - don't bring the gun back here - it is illegal! 

So, somewhat deflated we head off to the tax office...

   moving forward.....

 

A month ......

[Darwins Selection]

"We can probably rush it through in 3 weeks for a small fee"

[Steve]

Amazing stuff BM    and for the patience

I might have said something unfortunate or just shot someone

[apc2010]

"We can probably rush it through in 3 weeks for a small fee"

 

but he is padlock..........