What exactly is the purpose of the blindfold given during execution by firing squad? Refusing the blindfold is a common conceit in movies where the putative executee wants to look like a badass. I couldn’t say that I would definitely do the same in that situations, but it doesn’t seem to be necessary in a style of execution which (should) be quick and relatively painless. Is it perhaps done to prevent the squad from botching while being stared in the eyes by their victim, or preserve dignity? Or is it purely a Hollywood image?
I didn’t find an answer, but I did find these firing squad cartoons.
I always had the impression covering the condemned’s face was to make things easier on the firing squad. Frankly, I’d refuse the blindfold just to give the bastards nightmares of my steely scornful gaze.
Shoot straight, you bastards! Don’t make a mess of it!
Doesn’t Utah (the only state that still uses firing squads?) make the condemned where a black hood over his head?
I had thought that too, but they stopped it in 2004. Idaho and Oklahoma are the only states to allow it, and only if they can’t do a lethal injection (e.g. when a heavy needle-drug user is executed).
Breaker Morant 
As an aside I was told that in a firing squad one person got a blank round. The ammunition is preloaded and none of the shooters knows which gun has the blank in it. Presumably this was to allow the shooters a sense of relief that they got the blank round and did not actually shoot the guy.
Anyone know if this is true? I was told by someone (can’t remember who) that a shooter can tell the difference between shooting a live round and a blank anyway but do not know if that is true either
As for the blindfold I am going with it makes it easier on the shooters although presumably it somehow helps the person getting shot by not seeing it all happen. As another mentioned I’d forego the blindfold myself.
I’ve fired .308 blanks, and they produce a lot less recoil vs. firing a live round. This is to be expected, of course, as the amount of mass exiting the barrel when using a blank (gas) is a lot less when compared to a live round (bullet + gas).
In addition to recoil, there are other ways of knowing whether or not you fired a blank:
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If it’s a semi-automatic rifle, and if the recoil mechanism is powered from gas pressure in the barrel, the rifle won’t cycle when firing a blank. (Unless a BFA were used. But that would be a dead giveaway.)
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Look at the brass cartridge after you fire (assuming you’re allowed to do so). A blank looks a lot different than a regular round.
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If you’re using copper jacketed rounds, copper will be removed from the barrel when you’re cleaning it with an appropriate solvent (e.g. Sweets).
Supposedly in firing squads in Utah, only one shooter had a live round, the other four blanks. Yet after Gary Gilmore’s execution there in 1977, when his brother Mikal was given his shirt, he found five bullet holes. He wrote that “the state of Utah, apparently, had taken no chances on the morning that it put my brother to death.”
Thailand recently switched from machine gun to lethal injection. That’s right, machine gun, but I don’t think it was like it sounds, with a whole belt of cartridges being emptied into the prisoner. I think it was still a single shot, and it definitely was by a lone gunman. But the prisoner was turned facing the other way, and he got it in the heart through his back. I don’t think a blindfold was offered. There is a book out by Thailand’s last gun executioner. I’ve not read it yet, but I’ve heard it’s very good.
As for the blindfold itself, I’ve always thought it was to make it easier on the condemned prisoner, so he or she wouldn’t have to watch.
If this report by an unnamed French military observer from WW1 holds any accuracy the option of refusal wasn’t always available.
It gets worse:
I actually hope someone made that up.
On the other hand a probably apocryphal but certainly persistent story concerning the execution of Mata Hari relates that, far from wearing a blindfold herself, her firing squad had to be blindfolded in order to immunise them against her legendary charms.
I hope that is true.
I was George in Of Mice and Men, and as most know, George has to shoot Lenny at the end of the play. But what do we amateurs use for a gun?
Lenny came into rehearsal one day with the answer. His dad’s 380 Magnum (I think). .
Anyway, it was a dead match for Dirty Harry’s cannon. He also brought blanks. There was a LOTTA sound and smoke when I shot that thing—into Lenny’s head—who was about about 4-6 feet upstage. The total effect scared the hell out of the cast and audience.
But thanks to the blank, there was hardly any kick. In fact, I had to fake it. BTW, I never asked an audience member, but they had to see the paper jacket that sprang from the barrel along with the smoke.
Much earlier, in the service, I had to fire a .45 during target practice with the Marines down in Gtmo, and I couldn’t manage the friggin’ recoil of that weapon. My every shot missed the target and hit the ground instead. Can you spell humiliating?
Then there was the story about two bank robbers facing the firing squad. The captain asked the first one if he wanted a blindfold, and he said, “Sure.”
When the second one was asked, he shouted, “You can take your damn blind fold and stuff it up your ass.”
The first one turned to him and said, “Hey, don’t make trouble.”
:eek: As a sometime-filmmaker who has used blanks (and co-modified a Beretta 92 to fire and cycle blanks), that story scares the crap out of me. Blanks can be deadly. On our sets we had strict rules about who could handle the firearms and when they could handle them, and we trained the actors in their use (at a gun range) before shooting the scenes. Please tell me you had someone who knew what he was doing (i.e., an armourer) to conduct safety training before you staged the play!
Wasn’t there an up-and-coming young television action-series star in the 1980s who accidentally killed himself by playing around in front of reporters with a gun loaded with blanks? Put it right to his head and pulled the trigger? Did not die right away, but rather was ruled brain-dead and taken off life support.
Missed the edit window:
Brandon Lee was also killed in a blank-related incident. Dummy round are often used onscreen. A dummy round is a cartridge with the powder removed and an inactive primer. Apparently a dummy round still had a live primer in it (i.e., it was a ‘squib load’). When the trigger was pulled the primer detonated and lodged the .44 projectile in the barrel of the gun. AIUI, a ‘full power blank’ (lots of fire and noise) was used in another scene. Nobody noticed that there was a bullet in the barrel. When the blank round was fired, it propelled the bullet down the chamber with similar power to a live round. Lee was hit in the abdomen and died.
Not the same as being killed by a blank, but it still serves to illustrate the danger of guns on the set (or stage). And that incident was under the supervision of professional armourers.
Right, THAT’S the guy.
Link to a blogger’s review of the book
Interesting description of execution procedures. And includes this line which I feel bad for laughing at:
-FrL-