But that’s silly. Any shooter can tell if it was a blank or a real bullet fired from his gun – besides the kickback, there would be obvious sound differences.
And why would you need this anyway? Given that the executee is a criminal, validly convicted of a capital crime, usually murder, there should be no objection to performing their just punishment. And if there is, then don’t volunteer for the job. In civil executions, it is always volunteers, and people can decline. The ‘one blank’ was for military firing squads, which were not necessarily volunteers. And it seems to have been largely a legend, anyway.
When Utah executed a prisoner by firing squad about 6 months ago, I remember reading in one of the news accounts that they use specially-made blanks, which are much harder to distinguish from real bullets, even by an experienced shooter.
Indeed, although the ‘art’ of the electric chair hasn’t advanced that much. To see how much, check out documentarian Errol Morris’ creepy biopic, Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.. The title character is an engineer who made himself into a noted authority (albeit one with questionable credentials) on execution equipment, first electric chairs and then lethal injection systems. He ultimately became entangled in Holocaust revisionism (more out of a seeming desire to be a celebrity than any latent anti-semitism) and was eventually utterly discredited, but his insight into the execution process is fascinating if somewhat disconcerting to listen to.
Since the only expertise required is how to flip a simple switch, I believe the key factor is whether or not the executioner can live with the fact that he just killed a human being. With firing squads, or even lethal injection, there’s enough room for doubt; but with the electric chair, there’s no uncertainty involved.
That’s a very rational perspective on things, but I think even under these circumstances, a large percentage of people would still feel at least awkward executing a person. People aren’t fully rational.
While I might be OK with flipping the switch on a convicted murderer. It would really suck if something came out afterward that proved him innocent. Though unlikely, it might be nice to provide the executioners with a psychological out.
With firing squads, my understanding is that there is doubt because one of the shooters, selected at random, has had his gun loaded with blanks; similarly, with lethal injection, there are three executioners, each pushing a button, with an unknown one of the buttons wired to start the process.
There’s nothing about the operation of the electric chair that would preclude the use of a similar mechanism, i.e. three switches operated by independently and simultaneously by three switchmen, with none of the three knowing whether his was the switch that started the process. I don’t know whether this is the case, but there’s no reason it could not be so.
Yes there is.
These are major-sized lever switches – not something like a room light switch. There is a noticeable power surge & vibration when they are thrown. This is a direct short circuit (through the criminal’s body. If two of three switches were dummies, it would be quite obvious which ones they were to the person switching them. (Just like a firing squad shooter knows if he fired a blank of a real bullet.)
If you wanted to spend extra money, I suppose you could construct an apparatus to do this. Have 3 regular switches, only one of which actually controls a set of heavy-duty contactors that switch the current to the chair. Or you could even have the contactors remotely controlled over phone lines – then the Governor himself could ‘throw the switch’ from his office in the State Capitol.
Is there a cite for this, or for the more general one-blank claim?
I suspect the blank story is merely a myth told to or by the members of firing squads. You can achieve the same effect by claiming there is one blank, even if all the bullets are live.
I was a teenager when Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah. (1977) There was TV coverage that detailed the “one gun has blanks” thing. Extreme morbid curiosity from my teen aged self. 34 years later I was able to recall his name for example…though I did have to consult Wikipedia for the year.
Electric Chair training Course
Lesson 1 Off/On What is the difference?
Lesson 2 When should the switch be off?
Lesson 3 When should the switch be on?
End of course
I believe they are called E-lay-zi-boy…in the directions it warns against imbibing fluids while sitting chair, and comes with complimentary rubber shoes.
What’s with the “doper” stuff? I’ve seen this phrase many times on this board. Is that a popular phrase here? Is this person 87 years old? People aren’t called “dopers” any more.
If you’re are going to ridicule, please do it properly. Say stoner, drunk, alkie, something. You sound dated and stoned yourself.
Don’t be a square…update your vocab–there are sites.