{"id":27626,"date":"2014-11-21T08:34:58","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T13:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/blog\/?p=27626"},"modified":"2014-11-21T08:34:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T05:25:58","slug":"utah-bring-back-firing-squads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/utah-bring-back-firing-squads\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Utah Bring Back Firing Squads?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Utah legislative committee voted 9-2 Wednesday to endorse a bill that would make firing squads the main method for executing criminals if the drugs needed for lethal injection were not available to the state.<\/p>\n

Currently those drugs are not available in the U.S.<\/p>\n

“The European company that makes this [drug cocktail] is refusing to sell to the United States because they\u2019re opposed to the death penalty,” explained Rep. Paul Ray (R-Clearfield), a member of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee, who voted to forward the bill.<\/p>\n

Rep. Ray add that firing squads are “absolutely one of the most humane ways to execute someone because it\u2019s so quick and, quite honestly, one of the most painless ways.”<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m sure there\u2019s some initial pain to it,” he continued, in his interview with The Salt Lake Tribune<\/a>, “but you don\u2019t see the struggling and the trying to breathe you see on any type of lethal injection. Even on the ones that are the lethal drug cocktail, you still see the gurgling and the fighting to breathe.”<\/p>\n

Under the language of the bill, a court hearing would be held at least 30 days before the execution at which time a judge would evaluate whether lethal injection drugs are available. Should they not be available, the criminal would be executed at the hands of a firing squad.<\/p>\n

Of the two committee members who opposed the endorsement Rep. Mark Wheatley (D-Salt Lake) and Rep. Marc Roberts (R-Santaquin), one said it wouldn’t solve the problem.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t see where this bill is needed,” said Rep. Wheatley. “We\u2019re not correcting any problem. \u2026 It\u2019s not solving anything.”<\/p>\n

Convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last individual executed by a firing squad in the U.S. He was fatally shot on June 18, 2010. Gardner was a Utah resident who had been on death row since 1985. In 2004, the Legislature changed the law to make lethal injection the primary means of execution but since Gardner was grandfathered in to the previous statute, which allowed condemned criminals to choose their method of execution, he was allowed to go out before a firing squad.<\/p>\n

With all that said, what are your thoughts? Should Utah bring back the firing squad as the primary means of execution?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should Utah bring back the firing squad as the primary means of execution?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":27627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,216],"tags":[132],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gunsamerica-authors","8":"category-s-h-blannelberry","9":"tag-buzz"},"yoast_head":"\nShould Utah Bring Back Firing Squads?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should Utah bring back the firing squad as the primary means of execution?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/utah-bring-back-firing-squads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should Utah Bring Back Firing Squads?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Should Utah bring back the firing squad as the primary means of execution?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/utah-bring-back-firing-squads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-21T13:34:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-18T05:25:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/BatistaFireSquad.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"S.H. 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