# USA - execution by firing squad **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 7, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273 "2025-03-07T23:49:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273/121 "2025-11-21T09:36:40Z")
So someone else should have it on _their_ soul? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273/122 "2025-11-21T09:41:25Z")
They said they wouldn’t argue for the death penalty, so no; it’s on the soul of the people who _do_ support it. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273/123 "2025-11-21T09:51:09Z")
If it’s going to be done anyway, better than it be done by someone who will do it well, and who won’t enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273/124 "2025-11-21T09:54:18Z")
Why should the people who oppose it be forced to kill people for the entertainment of those who do support it? Because that’s what it _is;_ bloodsport. It has no actual function other than entertainment. And I certainly have no desire to kill other people for the entertainment of others. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273/125 "2025-11-21T10:09:05Z")
So you’ve kept your own hands clean and your moral purity preserved, but in the end the condemned person is still dead, except that now they’ve been killed by some gleeful sociopath who’s botched the job. How is that any better? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273/126 "2025-11-21T11:16:51Z")
It’s literally all I _can_ do. In a nation largely composed of awful people, keeping my own hands clean is all I can really do. And hope to die before they get around to me. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273/127 "2025-11-21T13:05:17Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So you’ve kept your own hands clean and your moral purity preserved, but in the end the condemned person is still dead, except that now they’ve been killed by some gleeful sociopath who’s botched the job. How is that any better? If enough people refuse, it won’t be done at all. And why do you think the gleeful sociopath will botch the job? There’s a high correlation between what people like to do and what they are good at, and i think causation goes both ways. It would be truly horrifying to force some death penalty opponent to serve on a firing squad, only to have him flinch and his shot go somewhere painful-but-not-quickly-lethal. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2025, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273/128 "2025-11-21T13:17:47Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And why do you think the gleeful sociopath will botch the job? There’s a high correlation between what people like to do and what they are good at, [John C. Woods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Woods), US hangman of the Nuremberg Trials condemned. Grossly incompetent, but he wanted the ego-boost, if not also the sadistic thrill, of state-sanctioned killing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-execution-by-firing-squad/1015273.md?page=6)