The 5 Simple Steps Behind ‘Death By Firing Squad’

By Josh Fatzick

With a severe shortage of drugs used for lethal injections in the United States, on Monday Utah became another of a handful of states to codify firing squads as an alternative method of executing inmates on death row.

Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert signed a law allowing the state to use firing squads to execute an inmate only if the lethal injection drugs are not available 30 days before the execution is set to take place.

So how exactly would a firing squad work?

Step 1: Ready the target

Typically, an inmate will be restrained to a chair with leather straps secured around his waist and head. The chair is placed in front of an oval shaped wall and surrounded by sandbags, which act to stop bullets from ricocheting and absorb blood splatter after the inmate is executed. After a black hood is pulled over the condemned inmate’s head, a doctor will locate the inmate’s heart and pin a circular target over it. The inmate is now ready to meet his maker.

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