{"id":189124,"date":"2021-03-04T17:10:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T22:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=189124"},"modified":"2021-03-04T17:10:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T22:10:45","slug":"firing-squad-or-electric-chair-the-new-choice-for-sc-death-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/firing-squad-or-electric-chair-the-new-choice-for-sc-death-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Firing Squad or Electric Chair: The New Choice for SC Death Row?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffiring-squad-or-electric-chair-the-new-choice-for-sc-death-row%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=189124&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a class=\"republishingLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.libertynation.com\/republishing-guidelines\/\">Please respect our republishing guidelines &#8211; Click Here<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feature-img test\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/firing-squad.jpg\" alt=\"Firing Squad or Electric Chair: The New Choice for SC Death Row?\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Only three times has a prisoner been executed by firing squad in the United States since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.libertynation.com\/tricky-business-fed-death-penalty-making-a-comeback\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">capital punishment<\/a> was reinstated in 1976, but one of South Carolina\u2019s 37 death row inmates could very well be the fourth. The Palmetto State\u2019s Senate passed a bill to allow firing squad as a method of execution by a 32-11 vote. Now it\u2019s up to the House to decide, as Governor Henry McMaster has already said he\u2019ll sign it if it lands on his desk.<\/p>\n<h3>Looking for Options<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-68299\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/death-row-execution-capital-punishment.jpg\" alt width=\"450\" height=\"295\" \/>It was Gov. McMaster who asked the state\u2019s legislature for a way to sort the nearly decade-long break from executions. The state hasn\u2019t been able to get the drugs for lethal injections. Since inmates under the current law can choose between lethal injection and electric chair and inmates know about the lack of drugs, folks have been picking the poison \u2013 bringing the execution process to a halt. The South Carolina Senate and House of Representatives were both working on bills that would remove the choice of lethal injection whenever the state can\u2019t use that particular method. In the Senate version, two former prosecutors turned state senators \u2013 Democrat Dick Harpootlian and Republican Greg Hembree \u2013 proposed adding firing squad as an option as well.<\/p>\n<p>Several Democrats joined with the Republicans and passed the bill through the state Senate, 32-11. While the House version doesn\u2019t include fusillading, there\u2019s a good chance they\u2019ll adopt the Senate version now that it has passed and the governor has shown his support.<\/p>\n<p>Death by firing squad was once a fairly common execution method, but since the United States reinstated the death penalty, only three states have allowed it, and only one has actually used it. The state of Utah has shot three prisoners, the last being in John Albert Taylor in 1996. If the House passes the bill, South Carolina will become the fourth state, behind Utah, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, to offer it as an option.<\/p>\n<h3>A Humane Choice?<\/h3>\n<p>State Sens. Harpootlian and Hembree both alluded to the firing squad as a humane option, but those who oppose say it\u2019s barbaric. Who\u2019s right? Somehow, both sides are both right and wrong. When done right, lethal injection is fairly quick \u2013 but it isn\u2019t instant. Neither is the electric chair. If done right, several .30 caliber bullets directly into the heart of the condemned from a relatively close range is about as instant as it gets. Despite all the sound and fury of gunfire \u2013 especially inside an enclosed space \u2013 this option ensures a quick death with far less potential for pain than the other legal methods.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-564284\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/firing-squad.jpg\" alt width=\"450\" height=\"351\" \/>Of course, the marksmen could miss. That has happened in the past, in less regulated settings. But then, there are stories of executions by electric chair, lethal injection, gas chamber, hanging, and even beheading going horribly awry as well.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, it depends on how one chooses to define \u201chumane\u201d for the purpose of this debate. According to Merriam-Webster, humane means \u201cmarked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals.\u201d One could make a solid argument that a mercy killing \u2013 quickly and efficiently ending the pain of someone with no chance of survival \u2013 fits this definition, as it could be done out of compassion and sympathy. Applying the term to ending the life of a prisoner who isn\u2019t otherwise dying and would rather just go home, or even just stay in prison, is a bit of a stretch, no matter how quick and painless.<\/p>\n<p>In short: Taking someone\u2019s life by force isn\u2019t humane by any stretch of the definition \u2013 but, so long as it\u2019s effective and the prisoner\u2019s choice, no available method is really any more or less humane than the next. Of course, <em>calling<\/em> it humane is a political requirement for those who hope to keep the death penalty <em>and<\/em> their positions of power at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of whether capital punishment is just, or just a necessary evil, it is the law in many states. Might as well give the condemned some options on how they go out.<\/p>\n<p>~<\/p>\n<p><em>Read more from\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.libertynation.com\/author\/jimfite\/\"><em>James Fite<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ctx-article-root\"><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please respect our republishing guidelines &#8211; Click Here Only three times has a prisoner been executed by firing squad in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274717,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/firing-squad.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Firing Squad or Electric Chair: The New Choice for SC Death Row?","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/firing-squad.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Firing Squad or Electric Chair: The New Choice for SC Death Row?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}