Utah firing squad getting ready

[Sgt. Rock]

Utah lawmakers on Tuesday approved a measure that would make firing squad the method of execution in the state if authorities can't obtain increasingly scarce lethal injection drugs.

Before the 18-10 vote by the state Senate, Gov. Gary Herbert declined to say explicitly if he would sign the bill but noted that Utah is having trouble finding chemicals to kill death-row inmates.

"If those substances cannot be obtained, this proposal would make sure that those instructed to carry out the lawful order of the court and the carefully deliberated decision of the jury can do so," Herbert, a Republican, said in a statement.

There are a handful of inmates on Utah's death row who can already choose firing squad as their execution method because they were sentenced before 2004, when the state took that option away. The last prisoner to be executed by firing squad was Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010.

 

[BIGt0007]

Why waste ammo?
Hang em high!

 

[kwo51]

In jet with Draino and Heroin.

 

[ViperJeff]

As a Utah resident, I'm good with bullets, in fact, take your time and fire at will

 

[doublestack]

Bring out the guillotine to the town square and watch the head bounce and roll! I say this is quick and humane. Prisoners should have very limited rights or none at all. They didn't respect the rights of their victims....off with their heads!:happy107:

 

[kwo51]

Who is will?

 

[oppo]

If they need ammo, I will gladly send them some.

 

[Concealed 27]

Ammunition in a marksman hand is a good way to go. I think it may change some people's mind when it comes to committing crimes knowing a .556 in the heart may be the punishment...lmao
Concealed 27

 

[Arckadian]

I have actually been following this story since I heard about the reemergence of the Firing Squad. Personally, I would prefer to be shot instead of having those chemicals pumped into me. If you screw up the mix you will take a lot longer to die and it is a lot more inhumane that way. I actually saw someone try to bring up that in the late 1900's there was a firing squad execution that took the prisoner 30 minutes to die from. IF they screw up the lethal injection it could take up to 2 hours to die . . . hmmmm Just shoot me again and put me out of my misery?

 

[SilvrSRT10]

As barbaric as it is, guillotine is pretty humane. I really don't think you'd feel a thing.

 

[kwo51]

Best way to die ! NOT

 

[SilvrSRT10]

Best way to die ! NOT

Don't do anything that might get you the death sentence. Problem solved.

 

[Sgt. Rock]

When they do use the firing squad procedure..do certain rifles have live rounds, while others have dummy rounds???. That way the "shooters" don't really know who the executor really was..or maybe they do it different in Utah?? With a high percentage of Mormons in Utah I really surprised that even a death sentence is even allowed in that state...Texas yes but not Utah.

 

[kwo51]

All the guns are loaded with blanks and the perp dies from a heart attack.

 

[Sgt. Rock]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Randy Gardner still struggles four years later to talk about seeing his brother's bullet-ridden body at the mortuary after he was executed.

Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last person to die by firing squad in Utah — a method state lawmakers voted this week to reinstate, illustrating frustrations across the U.S. over bungled executions and shortages of lethal-injection drugs.

Randy Gardner made it clear Wednesday he did not condone what his brother did — first killing a bartender and later shooting a lawyer to death and wounding a bailiff during a courthouse escape attempt.

But he said the firing squad is brutal.

"When you take somebody and you tie them to a chair, put a hood over their head, and you shoot them from 25 feet with four rifles pointed at their heart, that's pretty barbaric."

The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Paul Ray, sees it differently.

Ray argues a team of trained marksmen is faster and more humane than the drawn-out deaths involved when lethal injections go awry — or even if they go as planned.

"Your body is paralyzed. You feel everything," Ray said. "Your body slowly shuts down over a period of minutes based on the drug cocktail that's given to you. Whereas a firing squad, you reach the death obviously in three to five seconds."

Some of the victims' family and friends wanted Gardner's life spared in 2010. But relatives of the slain bartender, Melvyn Otterstrom, and bailiff George "Nick" Kirk, pushed for the death sentence to stand.

"Gardner has hurt so many people. He has never shown any compassion for any of his victims, so why does he deserve compassion?" Kirk's daughter, Tami Stewart, said tearfully at the time. "The agony and toll he placed on my father deserves justice and that it be given."

Gee I am really broken up over your bullet ridden dead brother four years ago dude..as I see it..it wasn't barbaric..it was justice served to a low life scum bag like your brother. Go cry somewhere else..no sympathy in here.