# Firing Squad’s return to Utah?



## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

At first glance, I don't have a problem with it. 
Comments?

Utah panel recommends firing squad's return

A state legislator says it's the surest and most humane method of conducting an execution.

By MICHELLE L. PRICE The Associated Press
11/20/2014
Utah panel recommends firing squad's return - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

SALT LAKE CITY - Ten years after banning the use of firing squads in state executions, Utah lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed a proposal to allow the practice again to avoid problems with lethal-injection drugs.

The proposal from Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield would call for a firing squad if the state cannot obtain the lethal injection drugs 30 days before the scheduled execution.

Utah dropped firing squads out of concern about the media attention, but Ray said it's the most humane and instantaneous way to execute.

"We have to have an option," Ray said. "If we go hanging, if we go to the guillotine, or we go to the firing squad, electric chair, you're still going to have the same circus atmosphere behind it. So is it really going to matter?"

After a 20-minute discussion, an interim panel of Utah lawmakers approved the idea on a 9-2 vote Wednesday. The proposal still needs to go through the full legislative process.

Under current Utah law, death by firing squad is only an option for criminals sentenced to death before 2004. It was last used in 2010.

Ray said his proposal gives Utah flexibility if it's unable to obtain the drugs needed in a lethal injection.

For years, states used a three-drug combination to execute inmates, but European drugmakers have refused to sell them to prisons out of opposition to the death penalty.

That move has led states to use different types, combinations and doses of lethal drugs, but those methods have been challenged in court.

Because of the challenges with the drugs and prolonged executions earlier this year in Oklahoma and Arizona, lawmakers in Utah and elsewhere are looking for alternatives.

Critics have said the firing squads are not without risks and will renew the media attention Utah had wanted to avoid.

Despite being restrained, an inmate could still move or the shooters could miss the heart, causing a slower, painful death, according to the Washington, D.C.,-based Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.

Utah stopped allowing inmates to choose a firing-squad execution in 2004, citing the excessive media attention it gave prisoners. Those sentenced to death before the law changed still have the option of choosing it.

It was last used in 2010 when Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by five police officers with .30-caliber Winchester rifles.

Gardner was the third person to die by firing squad after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Several other inmates on Utah's death row have opted to die by gunfire, but they are all years away from exhausting the appeals of their death sentences.

Jean Hill with the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City spoke Wednesday in opposition to the proposal and the death penalty in general.

"These may be heinous crimes that have been committed, and the idea of revenge is a normal human emotion," Hill said. "But the state's role is not to take revenge on people."


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## ntxwheels (Oct 25, 2014)

1 bullet is much cheaper than the drugs required or the amount of electricity needed..


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## Danm (Nov 15, 2014)

I don't see a problem with it


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

I don't know how I feel about this. They gave drugs to end the life of the young lady with cancer. As far as im concerned that is sicker than giving drugs to someone who deserves it. Interesting point isn't it?


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Boss Dog said:


> ...The proposal from Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield would call for a firing squad if the state cannot obtain the lethal injection drugs 30 days before the scheduled execution.
> "These may be heinous crimes that have been committed, and the idea of revenge is a normal human emotion," Hill said. "But the state's role is not to take revenge on people."


IMHO the state is simply removing a rabid animal that has given up it's right to life by taking another's life. I wouldn't spend $30K a year to keep a rabid dog in a cage, why should we keep a rabid animal of a person in a cage?


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## MrsInor (Apr 15, 2013)

Works for me. And when did justice become revenge?


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Gee the rat bastard night feel pain. I am certain he had no empathy for his victim. I say abolish the easy way out. Soot, hang or behead. Stop needlessly spending money on people so evil that we must execute them to protect society. Maybe if we go with beheadings it will give militant Muslim immigrants employment.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Firing rifle bullets into a person's chest is not a very effective or swift way to cause death. That's why the Frog Eating Frenchie's came up with the Coup de gras which was after the firing line was made safe the man in charge finished the miscreant off with a pistol bullet to the the head...which is much more efficient. That's how the Chicoms do it. Skip the firing squad and give one shot to the back of the head. There ya go. 
Coup de gras - definition of Coup de gras by The Free Dictionary


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## MI.oldguy (Apr 18, 2013)

I am for this.they line up normally 7 marksmen and 1 has a bullet and the rest blanks.that way,there is supposedly no guilt to the riflemen as to who executed the criminal.

I personally would want this more than being strapped down to a gurney,given an IV,and possibly suffering for an hour or more.I would state my last words as" You f**kers better aim right".:!:


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

ntxwheels said:


> 1 bullet is much cheaper than the drugs required or the amount of electricity needed..


To be fair, it's 5 bullets... but hey, your point's still valid. If they run out, they can borrow some from the Department of Homeland Security, they've bought tons of rounds... (literally)...


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

MI.oldguy said:


> I am for this.they line up normally 7 marksmen and 1 has a bullet and the rest blanks.that way,there is supposedly no guilt to the riflemen as to who executed the criminal.
> 
> I personally would want this more than being strapped down to a gurney,given an IV,and possibly suffering for an hour or more.I would state my last words as" You f**kers better aim right".:!:


I heard that too with the one bullet. Id do it backwards with one blank. Can't they tell its a blank? By looking at it or the recoil with nothing going down the barrel.


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