[Willie Green]

I've nothing against firing squads, but I DO think a suitable length of rope is more "traditional".

Rope has other advantages as well: it is more energy efficient, can be reused many times, and doesn't release pollutants into the environment.

[SJSAMPLE]

"The firing squads will be made up of police volunteers, who will remain anonymous."

He's got nothing to worry about ;)

[AppyPappy]

The executions come just a month after the US State Department roundly condemned Cuba for executing a gang of ferry hijackers - they too were killed by firing squad.

The ones in Cuba were killed without appeal.

[VoteHarryBrowne2000]

The executions come just a month after the US State Department roundly condemned Cuba for executing a gang of ferry hijackers - they too were killed by firing squad.

What the heck does Cuba's human rights violations have to do with executing convicted killers? Seems like the author has some other axe to grind. There is no moral equivalence between Cuba murdering political dissidents and Utah's morally justified execution of convicted murders.

[theDentist]

The executions come just a month after the US State Department roundly condemned Cuba for executing a gang of ferry hijackers - they too were killed by firing squad.

The hijackers didn't commit murders. They attempted to escape a dictatorial regime bent on crushing all who would question it. These two are convicted felons who committed murders. They are, in fact, not in the same league as the Cubans, whose families can remember them with pride.

[tiamat]

LOL!

Rope IS more "environmentally friendly"!

Tia

[milan]

The other inmate, Troy Michael Kell, a white supremacist, has sworn, spat and wriggled his way through his various court hearings.

A white supremacist? No one will say a thing about the form of execution...sure, maybe a handful, but I bet the ACLU, etc. are pretty much mum. Now, if it was a black panther, yeah, they would say something...

[skeeter]

Mr Kell, who appears to not want to die, has chosen death by firing squad over lethal injection? Seems odd.

[Mr. Lucky]

Apparently, you're not familiar with the pollutants often released by the decedent dangling from the end of the rope.

[The Shootist]

Hanging is a traitors' death.

Firing Squad is an "honorable" death.

At least that has been the "traditional" view of such things.

[Grig]

"The firing squad tradition is rooted in Mormon custom, which holds that blood must be shed for the crime of murder to be appropriately punished."

If they were hung, injected, electrocuted etc. no Mormon would be griping that they were not appropriately punished. Support for the principle of capital punishment has traditionaly been high among Mormons, but dead is dead and how it happens is not important.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

I suspect that the prisoner's request of a firing squad over other methods available to them, is a ploy.

[onedoug]

'Makes me think of California's hanging days.

One condemmed inmate once asked, "Will it hurt?"

The guard ansered, "No one ever complained."

Then there was the 300 pound woman...whose hanging ripped her head off.

[wimpycat]

A firing squad may be messy, but there's far less chance of something going wrong, and it's quick; therefore, more humane than hanging or the electric chair or the gas chamber.

[Consort]

...Comes in sisal, hemp, coir, manila, nylon, rayon, jute, ramie, cotton, polypropylene.....twisted or braided....cable or lang layed....choice of colors.....7 to 13 turns/coils.

[mass55th]

Gary Gilmore requested death by firing squad in Utah back in 1977.

[cricket]

Personally thing 'firing squads' are the most Humane form of Capital Punishment. . .for the one executed; and for those who must get the job done.

[Capt. Tom]

Thanks Gary

he fought the justice system to ensure he would be executed quickly

The Execution of Gary Gilmore At eight minutes after 8:00 a.m on January 17, 1977, Gary Mark Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in Draper, Utah. The execution ended the life of a man who had killed at least two people and who had spent 18 of his 36 years behind bars for various offenses. Two aspects of the case kept it on the front pages for months. First, the death penalty had been reinstated in the United States in 1976 (not without controversy) after a 10-year hiatus and Gilmore was to become the first prisoner to be executed. Second, he fought the justice system to ensure he would be executed quickly.

[Snuffington]

Under Utah's laws, any prisoner sentenced to death has the right to choose between lethal injection - the preferred method of almost all US states that practise the death penalty - and a firing squad.

I'd choose a firing squad too. It may be "messier," but it's far more humane than the creepy shades-of-Doctor-Mengele lethal injection.

[SouthernFreebird]

Good for them...

[TxGrandMom]

Lethal injection is NOT quick or painless. If done correctly, death by firing squad is more humane.

If I had to choose, I would choose standing up, facing a firing squad, no hood or blindfold, and I would want to be outside so I could see the sky.