A Utah Congressman Wants To Bring Back Death By Firing Squad Because It’s More Humane

After a botched execution that left a person being executed dead (wait, what?), A GOP lawmaker out of Utah wants to make the death sentence more humane by bringing back the firing squad as an option. Nothing says more humane than blindfolding someone and then lighting him up with gunfire, right? Via HuffPo:

Rep. Paul Ray, a Republican from the northern Utah city of Clearfield, plans to introduce his proposal during Utah’s next legislative session in January. Lawmakers in Wyoming and Missouri floated similar ideas this year, but both efforts stalled. Ray, however, may succeed. Utah already has a tradition of execution by firing squad, with five police officers using .30-caliber Winchester rifles to execute Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010, the last execution by rifle to be held in the state.

Ray argues the controversial method may seem more palatable now, especially as states struggle to maneuver lawsuits and drug shortages that have complicated lethal injections.

“It sounds like the Wild West, but it’s probably the most humane way to kill somebody,” Ray said.

Holy hell, they killed someone by firing squad in 2010? No wonder my layover in Salt Lake City felt eerie, and I’m from Detroit!

Lethal injection, the default method of execution in the U.S., has received heightened scrutiny after secrecy and drug shortages in recent years and the April incident in Oklahoma, when inmate Clayton Lockett’s vein collapsed and he died of a heart attack more than 40 minutes later.

Ray and lawmakers in other states have suggested firing squads might be the cheapest and most humane method.

“The prisoner dies instantly,” Ray said. “It sounds draconian. It sounds really bad, but the minute the bullet hits your heart, you’re dead. There’s no suffering.”

Says the guy that hasn’t been shot in the heart. I mean, it’s not unlike anything else penetrating you heart with immense speed, right Steve Irwin? Yeaaaah. Humane.

“There’s no easy way to put somebody to death, but you need to be efficient and effective about it,” Ray said. “This is certainly one way to do that.”

It certainly is.

(Via HuffPo)

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