MORE HUMANE?

Utah Lawmaker: Bring Back Firing Squads

Answer to lethal injection problems.

The botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last month has spurred a national debate over the death penalty, but a Republican Utah state legislator has a solution: bring back the firing squads. Rep. Paul Ray said "It sounds like the Wild West, but it’s probably the most humane way to kill somebody." The firing squad method is relatively not that unusual in Utah. As recently as 2010, a convict was executed by five officers shooting .30-caliber Winchester rifles. However, since the Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to be re-instated in 1976, only three people have been executed that way. Ray realizes that his firing squad suggestion may rub people the wrong way. "It sounds draconian,” Ray said. "It sounds really bad, but the minute the bullet hits your heart, you’re dead. There’s no suffering."