Utah brings back the firing squad

[Jazzy]

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has given his stamp of approval to a law that brings back the firing squad in the only state that has used it in the past 40 years.

Under the measure approved Monday, firing squads will serve as a backup method if lethal injection drugs aren't available. Here's a closer look at how it works:
WHAT HAPPENS ON EXECUTION DAY?
The prisoner is seated in a chair that is set up in front of a wood panel and in between stacked sandbags that keep the bullets from ricocheting around the room.

A target is pinned over the inmate's heart. Shooters aim for the chest rather than the head because it's a bigger target and usually allows for a faster death, said Utah Rep. Paul Ray, who sponsored the proposal.

The prisoner is offered a two-minute window to offer final words. In 1977, Gary Gilmore used that chance to say, "Let's do this," before he died.

Five shooters set up about 25 feet from the chair, with their .30-caliber Winchester rifles pointing through slots in a wall. Assuming they hit their target, the heart ruptures and the prisoner dies quickly from blood loss.

WHO ARE THE SHOOTERS?
The gunmen are chosen from a pool of volunteer officers, with priority given to those from the area where the crime happened.

There are always more volunteers than spots on the squad, Ray has said.

The shooters' identities are kept anonymous, and one of their rifles is loaded with a blank round so nobody knows which officer killed the inmate.

ARE ANY UTAH INMATES IN LINE FOR THE FIRING SQUAD?
Yes. Ron Lafferty, who claimed God directed him to kill his sister-in-law and her baby daughter in 1984 because of the victim's resistance to his beliefs in polygamy, has requested the firing squad.

Lawmakers in the state stopped offering inmates that choice in 2004, saying firing squads attracted intense media interest and took attention from victims. But Lafferty got the option because he was convicted before 2004.

The other Utah death row inmate who could be next up for execution, Doug Carter, has chosen lethal injection. Under the new law, Carter would die by firing squad if the state can't get lethal injection drugs 30 days before his execution date.

Source

Thoughts?

 

[Dee]

I don't have any strong feelings one way or another on this, but I'm leaning more toward just waiting for the damn lethal injection drug to become available. I get that there are heinous, murderous, disgusting, foul creatures dwelling in the pits of many prisons around the country and around the globe, but this brings up a lot of controversy considering how we're still evolving as human beings. It feels like it's taking a step back, resorting to animalistic ways of killing humans. Then again, I know someone who should probably die by firing squad, so the vengeful animal in me thinks it might be okay. When you remove yourself from the situation and aren't involved in the punishment of someone who did something to you or someone you know, it becomes easier to say it's inhumane. But when something happens to you or someone you know, it becomes perfectly reasonable to want someone to die by firing squad.

 

[Doom]

Personally it doesn't truly bother me. Im not sure why.

 

[Webster]

Personally it doesn't truly bother me. Im not sure why.

Wouldn't bother me either, Doom...then again, we wouldn't be in this predicament if we simply followed the rest of the civilized world and outlawed capital punishment in the first place.

 

[Jazzy]

The anti death penalty crowd created the lethal injection method of the death penalty. The purpose? To create a complicated method that could create controversy. Lethal injection, even if the person is rendered unconscious, takes a long time to die, as the body begins to shut down. That is going to cause what the activists love to say is the inhumane part of the death penalty, because the breathing is heavier and labored. Lethal injection could be lethal and humane if they would just give the condemned person a "hot shot" of heroin, pleasure and death, all in one swoop. The firing squad is quick and painless.

 

[MrDawn]

I'm glad they've decided to use bullets instead of lethal injection drugs.
Bullets cost less and its much faster.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the cost for the drugs used in lethal injection is $86.08.

Firing Squad - Execution by a firing squad usually involves a team of five shooters, only some of whom use real bullets with others using blanks.  The team aims for the trunk of the body, as a target is placed on the heart of the condemned inmate. Currently this method is only used in Utah.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

Sounds good to me. Now let's getter done and start lining up these killers for a nice lonely ditch to bury them in.