# Firing squad question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930 "2015-03-13T19:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/1 "2015-03-13T19:11:41Z")
Utah is bring back execution by firing squad. I’ve heard the biggest problem is how it hits the shooters. So I ask, do you think you could be on a firing squad? Parameters: 1. Must prove you can hit a target at 100 feet. 2. 6 shooters, 1 has a blank round. 3. You are required to do it even if you disagree on the persons guilt or not. Therefore all bullets have identification so if after shooting they see one shooter deliberately missed or missed by error, you get some penalty (ex. loss of pay or never again on this duty). Remember you have to deal with yourself. Seeing that persons body jump and twitch from your bullet will live with you the rest of your life. Also you might not find out later that the person was found to be innocent. So could you do it? ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/2 "2015-03-13T19:19:52Z")
No fucking way. I grieve for the animal when I go deer hunting, this would be impossible for me. Being staunchly against the death penalty doesn’t help. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/3 "2015-03-13T19:27:36Z")
#3 contravenes #2. If the bullets are marked, then they know who did shoot. I could be an executioner IF I thought the sentence was just. I have a wacky idea that a member of the jury should be the executioner. If they decide that they can’t do it at the last minute, then the sentence is commuted to life in prison without parole. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/4 "2015-03-13T19:29:04Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > 1. Must prove you can hit a target at 100 feet. According to the brother of the last man executed by firing squad, quoted in [this article](http://news.yahoo.com/frustration-pushes-utah-toward-renewed-firing-squads-090004298.html), it’s 25 feet and four shooters. > [@Randy Gardner](#): > > When you take somebody and you tie them to a chair, put a hood over their head, and you shoot them from 25 feet with four rifles pointed at their heart, that’s pretty barbaric. No, I would not participate. I’m not overly keen on capital punishment, and I consider it morally wrong for me to take a person’s life except in specific circumstances. I would also be opposed to voting for the death penalty on a jury. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/5 "2015-03-13T20:02:22Z")
I’m a lousy shot. Even at 25 feet I would probably just scare him. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/6 "2015-03-13T20:08:54Z")
Absolutely not. This kind of personal confrontation only shows more clearly why the death penalty is barbarism writ into law. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/7 "2015-03-13T20:15:00Z")
Nah. Wouldn’t want to take a life under (most) any circumstances. I don’t even kill spiders. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/8 "2015-03-13T20:30:08Z")
OTOH, I wonder what kind of people DO agree to participate in a firing squad. Are they just hard-nosed lawn-order types? Do they view executions by firing squad (or any other means) as a job that somebody needs to do? Do they take any pleasure in it? Are they depraved sadists who revel in riddling a tied-up hooded convict with bullets? ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/9 "2015-03-13T20:47:00Z")
#2 and 3 pretty much cancel each other out. The entire reason why one shooter in a firing squad has a blank (and they don’t know who) is so that each shooter does not know if he was the one who killed the prisoner or not. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/10 "2015-03-13T20:54:26Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Are they just hard-nosed lawn-order types? Do they view executions by firing squad (or any other means) as a job that somebody needs to do? Do they take any pleasure in it? Are they depraved sadists who revel in riddling a tied-up hooded convict with bullets? Yeah, Teabaggers and Republicans. 😛 I always make the mistake of reading comments on news stories. People portray themselves as very bloodthirsty, and there is no shortage of volunteers to kill people. ---
**Author:** ![SJL4041](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@SJL4041](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SJL4041)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/11 "2015-03-13T20:56:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > OTOH, I wonder what kind of people DO agree to participate in a firing squad. Are they just hard-nosed lawn-order types? Do they view executions by firing squad (or any other means) as a job that somebody needs to do? Do they take any pleasure in it? Are they depraved sadists who revel in riddling a tied-up hooded convict with bullets? Why is the answer any different from the kind of people they find to inject poison in other states? I have to believe that after the numerous fuck-ups that have resulted from the loss of the classic execution drug cocktails, that the people who find veins and mix up untested cocktails are more cold-hearted and screwed up than someone who pulls a trigger that will result in a near-instantaneous death. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/12 "2015-03-13T20:56:20Z")
I don’t even think I could do this if the person in the chair was convicted of killing one of my family members. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/13 "2015-03-13T20:57:12Z")
It’s all mixed in with that weird Mormon blood atonement thing. Does that mean that when the Scientologists get their own state they get to audit people to death? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/14 "2015-03-13T21:01:09Z")
No, they have Tom Cruise jump up and down on them. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/15 "2015-03-13T21:03:08Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Are they just hard-nosed lawn-order types? Yeah. They usually don’t want to see all that blood all over their nice green grass. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/16 "2015-03-13T21:15:20Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > No, they have Tom Cruise jump up and down on them. > > Regards, > Shodan So close and yet so fa. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/17 "2015-03-13T21:26:39Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > OTOH, I wonder what kind of people DO agree to participate in a firing squad. Are they just hard-nosed lawn-order types? Do they view executions by firing squad (or any other means) as a job that somebody needs to do? Do they take any pleasure in it? Are they depraved sadists who revel in riddling a tied-up hooded convict with bullets? Well, who agrees to inject, during lethal injection? Who agrees to flip the switch, during electrocution? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/18 "2015-03-13T21:34:30Z")
I can live with or without the death penalty — I could not kill an animal, but I’ve held a few paws as some were sent to sleep, which is horrible, and am certain I could execute [eg: murder, to speak plain] people I thought had been sentenced for an awful crime. But I would take no pleasure in it, nor treat the chap inhumanely: if needed I would share a cigarette with him beforehand and chat lightly on distracting matters. Yet after it would be difficult for this to disturb one’s rest. Regard that most are willing for millions of charming animals to be factory-farmed and/or slaughtered by others. Are those others supposed to be shaking with pity and remorse after ? That is supposing someone trained me in shooting well. Chateaubriand wrote not only on the horrible kidnap and **[murder](http://www.scanopia.com/jean-paul-laurens/la-mort-de-duc-d-enghien.jpg)** of D’Enghien by Bonaparte’s death squad; but on that of his own cousin, Armand, shot with two others on the Grenelle Plain. His face was destroyed and teeth scattered and a dog was eating his brain — yet it was as quick as death as could be achieved in those days. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/19 "2015-03-13T21:36:51Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > #2 and 3 pretty much cancel each other out. The entire reason why one shooter in a firing squad has a blank (and they don’t know who) is so that each shooter does not know if he was the one who killed the prisoner or not. I think that having a blank in one of the rifles is for the peace of mind of the shooters; it preserves for each the possibility that they didn’t kill someone. As for identifying the bullets, it sounds like that’s for the people who arrange the execution. They wouldn’t even need to reveal the results to the shooters. If someone missed the target, they might just tell him “we won’t be using you again.” ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930/20 "2015-03-13T21:50:38Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > If someone missed the target, they might just tell him “we won’t be using you again.” Fortunately it’s not a firing squad offence. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firing-squad-question/714930.md?page=2)