Following national outrage over the botched lethal injections that took place in Oklahoma, a Utah lawmaker suggested bringing back firing squads to kill death row inmates instead, Fox News reported.
State Rep. Paul Ray, a Republican from Clearfield, wants to introduce a bill in the next legislative session in January.
"It sounds like the Wild West, but it's probably the most humane way to kill somebody," Ray said.
Ray is not alone. According to Fox News, lawmakers in Missouri and Wyoming proposed similar ideas, but none of them survived in their legislatures.
Though Utah eliminated the execution method in 2004, inmates still have the option of choosing it. The last time the state executed a death row inmate by firing squad was in 2010, with five police officers using .30-caliber Winchester rifles on Ronnie Lee Gardner.
"The prisoner dies instantly," Ray said. "It sounds draconian. It sounds really bad, but the minute the bullet hits your heart, you're dead. There's no suffering."
However, opponents of the firing squad option argue it isn't a guaranteed instant death if the inmate moves or the shooter misses.
"The idea is that it would be very quick and accurate but just a little movement by the person could change that," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "Things can go wrong with any method of execution."
Dieter brought up an instance in 1897, when a firing squad missing Wallace Wilkerson's heart and it took him 27 minutes to die.
Additionally, Dieter was wary of the "voyeuristic attention" a death by firing squad would bring to death row inmates -- something Utah wanted to avoid -- aside from potential legal battles.
Despite opposition, Ray argues it's more humane than giving an inmate a questionable mix of toxic ingredients.
"There's no easy way to put somebody to death, but you need to be efficient and effective about it," Ray said. "This is certainly one way to do that."
