Utah’s Legislature Paves the Way for Execution by Firing Squad

Utah’s Legislature Paves the Way for Execution by Firing Squad

Utah’s Legislature Paves the Way for Execution by Firing Squad

Chris Hayes talks to a GOP congressman who wants to bring back the firing squad about the ethics of the death penalty.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Facing a shortage of lethal injection drugs, Utah’s GOP majority legislature just passed a bill clearing the way for execution by firing squad. The Nation’s Chris Hayes interviewed Utah State Representative Paul Ray, the author of the legislation, about what motivated him to propose the bill and the overall ethics of firing squads.

“Is the barbarism of whatever horrific murder has been committed…the standard the state should be using?” Hayes asked. Representative Ray replied that given the shortage of injection drugs, a firing squad helped provide “some closure” in capital cases. “There’s another option,” Hayes said. “You can not execute people.”

—Avi Asher-Schapiro

 

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x