# Nitrogen Execution Now In America **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2018, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714 "2018-03-17T04:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Majestic\_Lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Majestic\_Lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Majestic_Lee)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/41 "2018-03-17T23:18:32Z")
Barbaric ---
**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 17, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/42 "2018-03-17T23:46:51Z")
[The Shooting Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andriza_Mircovich#The_shooting_machine) > [@](#): > > The state then ordered a rack of rifles that was to be set up on a frame by an Eastern ordnance foundry. The 1000-pound (450 kg) execution machine, which was called the “shooting gallery of steel”, included three Savage Model 1899 .30-30 caliber rifles with Maxim silencers… > > The “shooting machine” was designed to be loaded with two lethal rounds and a blank cartridge, each connected to a coiled spring mechanism. The device could be fired by cutting three strings, only one of which would fire the rifles. This design would prevent the three randomly selected prison guards from knowing who would be responsible for triggering the lethal shot… The prison doctor… placed a heart-shaped target on Mircovich’s chest. The aim on the loaded rifles were sighted on the defendant’s heart, and checked by each guard. Mircovich cursed the name of Judge Averill and said “I die like a soldier” before he was shot to death… > > Doctor McLean declared that the death was instantaneous. An autopsy found the two soft-nosed ball cartridges within 2/3 inch (17mm) of each other in Mircovich’s heart. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/43 "2018-03-18T00:46:44Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > And with a simple FOIA request, death penalty opponents can find out which one they used and spread it all over the internet. Suppliers will have to decide if that is worth a couple hundred dollars of gas. If the Legislature has the votes to establish nitrogen as a death penalty, it’s got the votes to pass an exemption to the FOI Act to shield the companies which supply nitrogen for death penalty purposes. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/44 "2018-03-18T00:53:40Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > If the Legislature has the votes to establish nitrogen as a death penalty, it’s got the votes to pass an exemption to the FOI Act to shield the companies which supply nitrogen for death penalty purposes. Yes but, as has been said, Nitrogen isn’t like specially formulated pharmaceuticals. Anyone can go and buy it readily and not say why they are using it. There would be no way or knowing where it came from and the buyer wouldn’t have to say why they were buying it. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/45 "2018-03-18T01:07:03Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > True, and there are probably people that would pay to watch. We could even have souvenirs and you could take selfies with the condemned, both before and after, for a nominal fee. Maybe before the execution, you can buy rocks or rotten fruit to throw at the prisoner. We could haul them through town in an open cage for everyone to jeer and sneer at. > > Be great for morale and a useful subsidy towards our criminal justice system (jails don’t build themselves you know.) The late comedian Bill Hicks proposed a voluntary option, “death by stunt”: the condemned could choose to die performing a fatal fall/shooting/etc. for a major motion picture. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/46 "2018-03-18T01:12:51Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Yes but, as has been said, Nitrogen isn’t like specially formulated pharmaceuticals. Anyone can go and buy it readily and not say why they are using it. There would be no way or knowing where it came from and the buyer wouldn’t have to say why they were buying it. A state prison can’t just send some guy out with petty cash to buy a bottle of nitrogen. There’s going to be a purchase order, invoice and delivery paper work. There’s always a paper trail. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/47 "2018-03-18T01:25:37Z")
First thought: It’s the 21st century and we’re a nation of baboons. Second thought: If I was facing execution, I’d want the guillotine. Sure it’s messy, but a well-built and tested (with watermelons?) guillotine would surely be efficient. Shit, I’d be willing to hold the rope and do it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/48 "2018-03-18T01:34:50Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > First thought: It’s the 21st century and we’re a nation of baboons. No, we’re really not. Baboons don’t have courts and laws. Our justice system is really fucked up, but it’s better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/49 "2018-03-18T01:38:19Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > No, we’re really not. Baboons don’t have courts and laws. Our justice system is really fucked up, but it’s better than nothing. [Here, let me help you out.](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hyperbole) ---
**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 18, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/50 "2018-03-18T01:38:47Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > If I was facing execution, I’d want the guillotine. Sure it’s messy, but a well-built and tested (with watermelons?) guillotine would surely be efficient. Shit, I’d be willing to hold the rope and do it myself. From what I’ve read, it’s almost certain that there is still pain involved for some time. The head is severed, but the brain still has some oxygen to keep it going for long enough to register pain - and there would no doubt be severe pain from having the neck just lopped off and a big gaping wound in the neck. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/51 "2018-03-18T01:51:44Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > This seems like a good way to accidentally kill some prison officials. Nitrogen is a no-shit dangerous substance in a closed area. And while there are certainly some people who would do best for this world by leaving it, I think there is enough evidence of falibility in our judicial system that we should have a serious consideration of whether we trust governments which regularly fuck up pretty much every other duty in major and minor ways to take responsibility for assuring that only genuinely guilty people are executed. > > Stranger I agree we cannot trust the courts to apply the death penalty fairly, but I oppose it because it does not offer the opportunity for redemption. Or decades of suffering. Depends on my mood. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Why not just OD on barbiturates or synthetic opiates (fentanyl derivatives for example) as a means of death? Because a lot of companies refuse to sell them for that purpose. It forced Oklahoma, I think it was, to buy drugs illegally in Italy, and a German company sued the FDA to force them to stop the state for using the drug for off-label purposes. Maybe it was Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/52 "2018-03-18T01:53:49Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > From what I’ve read, it’s almost certain that there is still pain involved for some time. The head is severed, but the brain still has some oxygen to keep it going for long enough to register pain - and there would no doubt be severe pain from having the neck just lopped off and a big gaping wound in the neck. My understanding is not “some time” but merely a few seconds. And let’s face it, it’s not like you would be writhing in agony (your headless body wouldn’t get the writhe signal from the brain, ha ha.) The reality would probably be more like “holy shit, what the f…” I like the certainty of it, for myself, anyway. I would never advocate it for an state-sponsored execution method. I’ll leave that sort of policy-making to the baboons. Come to think of it, maybe a gravity guillotine would be better. The head would be severed while the body is upright so the blood drains efficiently, instead of bouncing around while you get one last, jittery look at the world. ---
**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 18, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/53 "2018-03-18T01:59:24Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > The simplest and most humane method of execution would be a .38 round fired into the base of the skull where the spinal cord comes in. It would turn them off like a light switch. They wouldn’t feel it or hear it. The brain splatter and blood gore would be a huge boon to death penalty opponents. For an execution method to be acceptable, it’s not just enough for the execution to be painless. It has to \*look \*good and peaceful from the outside to pass muster. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/54 "2018-03-18T02:00:41Z")
I doubt enough people actually witness executions, or even see photos or video of them, for the method to make much of a difference in terms of influencing the public’s opinion of the death penalty. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/55 "2018-03-18T02:02:11Z")
The electric chair is a totally brutal and fucked up way of killing someone, and it still has persisted for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/56 "2018-03-18T02:14:35Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > No, we’re really not. Baboons don’t have courts and laws. [Just you wait.](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DnUp4K8zWdw/WIWBXjNigRI/AAAAAAAA-UM/Sx5bHz3zeiUTk5LkhA68dRcHwF52FNLPgCLcB/s1600/%2528_%2529_%2529%2B%25283%2529.jpg) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/57 "2018-03-18T02:35:06Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > [Just you wait.](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DnUp4K8zWdw/WIWBXjNigRI/AAAAAAAA-UM/Sx5bHz3zeiUTk5LkhA68dRcHwF52FNLPgCLcB/s1600/%2528_%2529_%2529%2B%25283%2529.jpg) > > Stranger Those are not baboons. Baboons have tails, meaning they are monkeys, not apes. They also have longer noses and some really awesome fangs. But they do have a social structure worth studying in HS Anthropology class. ---
**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 18, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/58 "2018-03-18T02:35:36Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > The late comedian Bill Hicks proposed a voluntary option, “death by stunt”: the condemned could choose to die performing a fatal fall/shooting/etc. for a major motion picture. [_There’s No Business Like_](https://www.cbsrmt.com/episode/418-there-s-no-business-like.html), broadcast on CBS Radio Mystery Theatre 19 January, 1976. Written by Sam Dann. In the year 2076, crimes against society are punishable by community service – in show business. A time traveler moves forward in time and discovers a future where the business is anything but entertaining; and where stunts and special effects often lead to death. The 45-minute episode may be played on the linked page. ---
**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 18, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/59 "2018-03-18T02:37:22Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > > > [Just you wait.](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DnUp4K8zWdw/WIWBXjNigRI/AAAAAAAA-UM/Sx5bHz3zeiUTk5LkhA68dRcHwF52FNLPgCLcB/s1600/%2528_%2529_%2529%2B%25283%2529.jpg) > > > > Stranger > > Those are not baboons. Baboons have tails, meaning they are monkeys, not apes. They also have longer noses and some really awesome fangs. But they do have a social structure worth studying in HS Anthropology class. Actually, they are meant to be orangutans. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/60 "2018-03-18T02:38:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > … CBS Radio Mystery Theatre … Damn, I used to listen to that show every night it was on. What a throwback to a throwback. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714.md?page=4)