Gardner to die by firing squad on June 18

Originally posted by ReVoLuTiOn76
Anyone who commits a murder will be sentenced to death. I am willing to bet that murder rates will go way, way down.

exactly! its time to take out the garbage america, im sick of paying taxes for the food, healthcare and, everything else so we can put people in prison, but im just talking about lifers and people on death row the small time people arent so bad

And just out of curiosity....if life in prison is such a horrific alternative to execution, why is it nine times out of ten, there is an attempt at plea bargaining out of the death penalty?

One would think the criminal would tell his lawyer "No plea bargains." if death was the easy and preferred route.

I didn't think so.

better alternitive to torture, medical experimentation!!!!!

Utah's Firing Squad set to execute Ronnie Lee Gardner tonight

Tonight, if the courts don't stay the execution, Gardner will be strapped to a chair in the execution chamber, a black hood will be put over his head, and a circular target will be pinned over his heart. A five-man firing squad, drawn from anonymous volunteers from state law enforcement, will be stationed behind a brick wall, armed with .30 caliber rifles. One of the rifles will be loaded with blanks, so that none of the shooters will know if they shot one of the deadly shells. After Gardner speaks his final words, the firing squad will do its job.

good. I will clap after it happens tomorrow because it means one less murderer to feed with my tax dollars.

If he wishes to die by firing squad, that is his choice. However, he did waste his fleshy body and could have donated his organs and/or body to medical science and such. Seriously, either lethal injection or death by firing squad messes up a perfectly good specimen.

If he wants to die honorably and be able to contribute to science, there could have been another option besides the two mentioned: guillotine. It's cleaner and the parts are still intact. Sorry, that thought just occurred.

[edit on 2010-6-17 by pikypiky]

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Uh, he killed a lawyer. I am torn whether or not he deserves death or an award.

But it was his choice to have the firing squad, so, well. Happy trails.

Originally posted by aboxoftrix
One of the rifles will be loaded with blanks, so that none of the shooters will know if they shot one of the deadly shells. After Gardner speaks his final words, the firing squad will do its job.

That's the procedure, but anyone who fires a weapon (I have this on good authority, but I'm not exactly used to firing weapons personally) - but anyone experienced will know if they fired a real bullet or a blank... Maybe the only benefit is that the shooters will have no idea before the triggers are pulled, but they will know afterwards.

I just have to say I find it quite ironic that this murderer and the style of execution that he chose to undergo himself are the topic of such a debate when hundreds - if not thousands - of people in the United States die under far worse circumstances than this on any given day.

I normally don't place values on individual human life, but in this case, I'd say he's worth $2 worth of ammunition. I'll even chip in, if possible.

I love the people on here that are all "Why, if I had it my way I'd douse the bastard in kerosene and set him alight". That's a massively retarded idea to wish upon somebody, even a murderer or whatever.

reply to post by Whine Flu


I am not sure where this huge amount of blood lust is coming from.

Of course, many of these same people detest and deplore the exact same things in Muslim countries.

reply to post by whatukno


I've been saying for a long time now. ATS is full of hypocrisy.

The condemned man chose firing squad over lethal injection as the way he will die.

Guys got some balls though.

Originally posted by ashanu90
exactly! its time to take out the garbage america,

Then maybe you should start by cleaning the ranks of all the foul business leaders and politicians, who shape the bitch of a world that exists today?

I don't know... I just don't see how an arbitrary authority, such as a Judge, can sign someone's life away. In this day and age, it seems wrong.

The true measure of how sick society is, will be when the media scramble like rabid dogs to try and cover his death. The public will want more, eager to saturate themselves in the details.

People calling for bloodlust are not much different to mobs who stone people to death in the Middle East.

I'm glad to admit that in the past I might have said 'good riddance'. Now I'm not so sure. Is sparing someone's life such a bad thing to do?

Originally posted by Now_Then

Originally posted by aboxoftrix
One of the rifles will be loaded with blanks, so that none of the shooters will know if they shot one of the deadly shells. After Gardner speaks his final words, the firing squad will do its job.

That's the procedure, but anyone who fires a weapon (I have this on good authority, but I'm not exactly used to firing weapons personally) - but anyone experienced will know if they fired a real bullet or a blank... Maybe the only benefit is that the shooters will have no idea before the triggers are pulled, but they will know afterwards.

I think the idea then is that you may know you had a live round but your fellows will not.

Utah is the only state in the union that offers the possibility of death by firing squad.

Why?

Because of the Mormon religion, which as you may know is very prevalent in Utah in particular. Mormonism has the concept of "blood atonement:"

Blood atonement is the controversial concept that there are certain sins to which the atonement of Jesus does not apply, and that before a Mormon who has committed these sins can achieve the highest degree of salvation, he or she must personally atone for the sin by "hav[ing] their blood spilt upon the ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins" (Young 1856a, p. 53).

Source here.

Whether you think its valid or crazed, right or wrong, there is your reason. Death by firing squad allows "blood to be spilt on the ground" and thus, for a strict Mormon believer, the only possibility of salvation for certain sins.

It has been a controversial idea ever since the religion started in the 19th century.

Four pages and not a single Mormon theologian to weigh in on the topic? Sheesh. Do I gotta do everything myself around here?



[edit on 6/18/10 by silent thunder]

Either way, I think this is a totally badass way to go out.

If the guy wants to die by firing squad then that's his choice, but I would like to see people taken away from behind the trigger. The guns could be fired with actuators that are put on a timer. Perhaps a random amount of time between 1-5 minutes that fires all guns at once. That gives the guy enough time to think about his sins and doesn't give him the benefit of a countdown to prepare himself.

IRM

reply to post by pikypiky


Or, you could just put one bullet in his head.

He still gets to die by firing squad, medical community has one more kadaver, everyone's happy.