Governor’s Foot Guard Tangled Up In Clash Over Bullets, Jurisdiction

If you missed reading this story about the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard in Sunday’s newspaper, you can read it now:

Trustees of the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard — a largely ceremonial military unit whose red, Colonial-style uniforms are common sights across Connecticut, especially at parades — want their bullets back.

And they are prepared to sue the state to get them.

In 2008, the state’s military department confiscated 18,014 rounds of ammunition from the High Street armory in Hartford, where, at the time, the state rented space for Foot Guard activities. Department officials had no record of state-issued bullets at the site and were worried that the ammunition posed a safety hazard.

In their official duties, Foot Guard members rarely use bullets. The military department issues them weapons and ammunition for required training each summer at a National Guard camp in Niantic, but those are kept under the military department’s control.

The Foot Guard trustees say the ammunition in the High Street building was their personal property, not issued by the state, and should have been left alone. In 2009, they sought permission to sue the state — which has immunity against most lawsuits unless it gives permission for a suit to move forward — in an attempt to get the ammunition back or at least get compensated for it. The request is still pending.

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