A few weeks ago, I was surprised and filled with dismay when a police sergeant and a constable turned up at my residence in Swieqi demanding, rather crudely, to immediately confiscate my ‘hammerless auto pistol’.

They merely presented me with a brief typed note from the Weapons Office and hastily made me sign over my misspelt name. I surrendered my ‘toy pistol’ without any kind of formal warrant or charge.

Not once in my 85 years have I ever violated the law. So much so that at the age of 18 I was strongly recommended for the purchase of a firearm with bullets by the late well-known CID senior superintendent Emmanual Calleja.

At the age of 21, I was officially issued with a special police licence to export and carry an automatic  635mm firearm.

Ever since, I have safely kept in my possession, invariably covered by police authorisation, a very good number of firearms of various calibres, and enjoyed easy access to firing ranges in Malta and overseas.

A government social worker recently paid a visit to my home to interview my wife, who has creeping dementia, and me, suffering from serious physical disablement and partial blindness.

During her friendly chat with my wife and daughter, the social worker must have misconstrued my wife’s mention that her husband “keeps a firearm”, unaware that this pistol has been licensed for a number of years as ‘hammerless and without number’.

I suspect, therefore, that when the social worker made a reportat the St Julian’s police station,the sergeant in charge of weapons licences failed to confirmthat the pistol licensed to mewas harmless.

I am expecting to recover itwith the approval of a senior police officer.