Utah considers resuming firing squad executions

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-31827250

Utah considers resuming firing squad executions

Lawmakers in Utah have proposed resuming the use of firing squads to carry out the death penalty if lethal injections drugs are not available.

US states such as Texas are struggling to obtain lethal injection drugs amid a nationwide shortage.

Other states are considering alternative methods after several inmates who received lethal injections took hours to die.

It is not clear if Utah Governor Gary Herbert will sign the measure into law.

The bill that passed the state senate on Tuesday night would reinstate the use of firing squads more than a decade after the state abandoned the practice.

The bill's sponsor, Republican lawmaker Paul Ray, said using a firing squad would be faster and more humane than the drawn-out deaths that have occurred in botched lethal injections.

But opponents call firing squads a cruel practice from the state's Wild West days. If approved, Utah would become the only US states to execute inmates by firing squad.

(continued, can see this going viral....in a year or two.)

[Seth]

About fricking time. It can even be automated using a mounted rifle zeroed on a chair. Hell, use a cattle-killer built into the headrest of the execution chair. Runs on compressed air. Really cheap. Quite effective. As instantaneous as it gets.

Put a random timer on it so that once the system activated it goes off at a random time so nobody has to "push the button."

Or better yet, give everyone in the viewing room a button, including the family of the victims. Then, when the system is activated, it goes off after a random short interval after anyone pushes the button. Nobody will know who pushed the button, or if some of them did, or if all of them did. If nobody pushes their button after 30 minutes the sentence is commuted to life in prison.

[cronus]

About fricking time. It can even be automated using a mounted rifle zeroed on a chair. Hell, use a cattle-killer built into the headrest of the execution chair. Runs on compressed air. Really cheap. Quite effective. As instantaneous as it gets.

Put a random timer on it so that once the system activated it goes off at a random time so nobody has to "push the button."

Or better yet, give everyone in the viewing room a button, including the family of the victims. Then, when the system is activated, it goes off after a random short interval after anyone pushes the button. Nobody will know who pushed the button, or if some of them did, or if all of them did. If nobody pushes their button after 30 minutes the sentence is commuted to life in prison.

...rope is eco-friendly though and can be used again and again, keeping costs down. Surely keeping costs down is key? And those bullets are needed for Russian chests not American, come the war. Red dawn is brewing in the East. Spectacle encourages time-wasters who want to get shot out of attention seeking.

[Rum]

So wrong. If it is reintroduced the governor of the State should get really up close, put the barrel against the head of the prisoner and pull the trigger watching the brains splatter all over his nice suit.

[cronus]

So wrong. If it is reintroduced the governor of the State should get really up close, put the barrel against the head of the prisoner and pull the trigger watching the brains splatter all over his nice suit.

That is where you go wrong Rum. You watch too many movies. And think life is a zero sum game. You wouldn't last a minute if UKIP took over.

[Rum]

And you remain such a twat.

[cronus]

And you remain such a twat.

So do so many. I'm not alone in the art of yesterday.

[piscator]

So wrong. If it is reintroduced the governor of the State should get really up close, put the barrel against the head of the prisoner and pull the trigger watching the brains splatter all over his nice suit.

You don't get that blood and brains flying against the flow of buckshot and wadding and expanding gases to splatter on the shooter's face is a cliched Hollywood contrivance rather than something that actually happens IRL?

[JimC]

If a state is going to put someone to death, then it should be as near instant and painless as possible. Deep anaesthesia followed by a bullet to the brain stem would actually be the best.

[laklak]

I think they should send them all to Liberia to work in Ebola hospitals. If they survive a year they're free. Alternatively send them to the organ banks.

[Hermit]

Why not make their deaths a money spinner? Cage fight. Ticket sales. Broadcast rights. DVDs. The sole survivor wins the chance to fight another day.

Or tie them to a pole, wrap tar-soaked rags around them and sell them to 1%ers as torches for their poolside parties. The Romans enjoyed that sort of thing.

[Seth]

So wrong. If it is reintroduced the governor of the State should get really up close, put the barrel against the head of the prisoner and pull the trigger watching the brains splatter all over his nice suit.

You don't get that blood and brains flying against the flow of buckshot and wadding and expanding gases to splatter on the shooter's face is a cliched Hollywood contrivance rather than something that actually happens IRL?

Well, yes, sometimes you do, although quite rarely at the magnitude displayed in the movies. Usually it's tiny traces that the shooter doesn't even notice on his clothes or shoes that get him convicted. Depends on the specific mechanics of the situation. That's why distance is always your best friend.

[Seth]

If a state is going to put someone to death, then it should be as near instant and painless as possible. Deep anaesthesia followed by a bullet to the brain stem would actually be the best.

How about just the bullet? No need for drugs at all, as there's no time for the pain signals to be processed with a brain-stem shot. It's just lights out.

[JimC]

If a state is going to put someone to death, then it should be as near instant and painless as possible. Deep anaesthesia followed by a bullet to the brain stem would actually be the best.

How about just the bullet? No need for drugs at all, as there's no time for the pain signals to be processed with a brain-stem shot. It's just lights out.

Mainly because they are cocooned against fear as the muzzle is put against the back of their heads...

[Blind groper]

A traditional firing squad is not painless, any more than hanging was, or beheading. The Chinese method, with a bullet to the back of the head would be painless (but very messy), but not a firing squad which puts bullets into the chest, leaving the poor bastard in absolute agony for maybe 15 seconds, until blood loss to the brain makes him unconscious.

The best expedient is to lock them up for life, rather than the barbaric and vengeful approach of execution. However, if execution is what they insist on, then a better approach would be to use the same drug vets use to put animals 'to sleep'. It is a narcotic, and in underdose makes you feel really good. In overdose, simply sends the victim to sleep, for ever.