SALT LAKE CITY — Utah has passed a bill that would make it the only state to allow firing squads for carrying out a death penalty if there is a shortage of execution drugs.
The 18-10 vote by the state Senate on Tuesday comes as states struggle to obtain lethal injection drugs amid a nationwide shortage.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield, touted the measure as being a more humane form of execution. Ray argued that a team of trained marksmen is faster and more humane than the drawn-out deaths that have occurred in botched lethal injections.
Opponents disagree, saying firing squads are a cruel holdover from the state’s wild West days and will earn the state international condemnation.
Whether it will become law in the conservative Western state is unclear: Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, won’t say if he’ll sign the measure. His spokesman, Marty Carpenter, did issue a statement this week acknowledging that the method would give Utah a legitimate backup method if execution drugs are unavailable.