Utah and many other states to resurrect the firing squad

[Second Coming of Madman]

This hasn't been discussed as far as I can tell, so let's talk about the latest antics of the Regressive Party as opposed to ripping ourselves apart. As of today, you can be executed by firing squad in Utah if you commit a capital crime there.

Now, let's get to the mechanics behind a firing squad before we go to discuss the bill itself. A firing squad, or fusillading,  is a method of capital punishment that is fairly old as capital punishment goes (Saint Sebastian was executed by Roman Archers, Edmund the Martyr by my ancestors's archers). Occasionally , those doing the killing itself are given one live round with the rest being "conscience" blanks.

Normally, it's composed of LEOs or military officers as per it's origins. The accused is executed by his peers, making it a professional military man's punishment. Needless to say, those wacky Mormons would care to disagree.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/firing-squads-utah-house-vote

This is a result of drug shortages and problems with lethal injection, thus forcing the use of bullets. Lethal injection itself was meant to be more humane than a hanging, a misguided sentiment at best.

Thoughts?

[Ultimate Paragon]

Personally, I'm starting to think we should bring back the guillotine.

[Ironchew]

Thoughts?

We need to join the civilized world and abolish capital punishment.

[Cloud3514]

If you have to execute someone, I'd say this is the way to go. Put a bullet in their head and stop trying to argue the semantics of a "humane" execution. However, we really should just get rid of capital punishment altogether.

[dpareja]

We need to join the civilized world and abolish capital punishment.

However, we really should just get rid of capital punishment altogether.

Only people who hate America and freedom would argue that position. Why do you hate America and why are you anti-freedom?

[Dakota Bob]

Makes sense. if you aren't going to do the sensible thing and outlaw capital punishment, might as well skip the bullshit about making it "humane" and off the fuckers behind the shed with a rifle.

[Ghoti]

I'd argue that, if we absolutely have to execute people (which we don't), a bullet to the head is the best way to do so. It's quick, it's cheap, and there's no posturing about if/how it's "humane" or "civilized".

[mellenORL]

For firing squads, it's actually one blank loaded in one of the rifles by the officer in charge. The squad do not know who has the blank (except I suppose lack of mass exiting means less kick-back, so he'd know after firing).

[R. U. Sirius]

I agree that we should abolish capital punishment.

That being said, I don't think a single advance in its implementation has ever been made to make it more "humane" for the one being executed. It's always been to make it either more entertaining (in olden times) or less gruesome (in modern times) for the witnesses, or in the case of crucifixion and similar executions by torture, to flaunt the government's power. The gas chamber works best when the one being executed is told to "breath deeply", making it a form of forced suicide. Nobody really knows what victims of lethal injection went through before they died, aside from the high-profile cases we've had lately of its much-delayed confirmed effects. Even victims of a firing squad have no guarantees of dying quickly if the bullets miraculously miss their organs. The only advantage to it that I can think of is that it can be automated, reducing the number of human participants to an absolute minimum.

Personally? I think the most humane form of execution would be to put the person under sedation, with electrodes on their scalp to ensure read their brainwaves and ensure they're deeply asleep, then either use gas or use a machine to drain their blood. No participation on their part required and easier to make painless.

[Old Viking]

Elephant-stomping is good, but I guess that would mean every state would have to have its own executioner elephant.

[Cerim Treascair]

Honestly... I'm okay with this.  I'm not fond of the death penalty, but I see it as a necessary evil, and truth be told, ammo's cheap.  Lethal injection chemicals ain't, or they're hard as fuck to come by.

[Ironchew]

Honestly... I'm okay with this.  I'm not fond of the death penalty, but I see it as a necessary evil, and truth be told, ammo's cheap.  Lethal injection chemicals ain't, or they're hard as fuck to come by.

How is the death penalty a necessary evil? Plenty of nations do just fine without it.

[Stormwarden]

If it were me, I would only use it as a last resort. Even then, my own solution would be to have them look at the flowers while someone puts a bullet right behind the ear. Quick and humane.

[Askold]

Well, firing squad is more humane than some other forms of execution, though guillotine is still my favourite. It is a quick and reliable way to kill a person.

...But getting rid of the death penalty would be an even better solution.

Not because it would be inhumane or because I would oppose the right of a nation to kill a person when necessary, but I just don't trust the courts to be 100% certain that the acccused person is guilty and death penalty is a punishment that cannot be retroactively pardoned.

[Sylvana]

I am not even too fond of the whole bullet to the head option. We have these devices that are like guns that launch a large spike into mammalian livestock's heads when it is time to slaughter them. Its quick, efficient, as painless and humane as reasonable and it is reusable.

Bullets fired from guns are really too unpredictable, the most efficient would be something like a guillotine, but instead of severing the head from the body, it instead completely crushes the head. No chance of survival, and death is instantaneous. Bullets can do all sorts of things like passing straight through and doing minimal lethal damage, to bouncing off the skull and not directly damaging the brain. It does not happen often, but it can.

Of course, personally I believe a lot of problems in the world can be solved with the wholesale slaughter of significant portions of humanity. We really do need to cull the herd a bit. Unfortunately I would probably be one of those culled, so I cant really support it. In life there are many ugly truths, that go against our own self interest.