Utah seeks gunmen for 2 scheduled executions - white supremacist, serial killer chose firing squad

Associated Press ^ | May 23, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

[Vigilanteman]

if a guy chooses *not* to choose, he is hung, and he is so fat, they are afraid his head will come off.

A two inch drop would be one way to prevent this. They'd just have to leave him dangling for 30 minutes or so.

[Riverman94610]

If they were REALLY Leftist sleaze the phrase would have been"gunPERSONS"!

[HairOfTheDog]

I will let them know that ;~D

[supercat]

If I remember correctly during Gilmore, they use 30-06 rifles. Believe me, the live rounds will generate a noticeable recoil. If you watched someone firing a blank vs the real round you could see the difference.

From what I've read, things are much less clear in volley-fire situations. I've read reports of rifles recovered from civil war battlefields which were double-charged or triple-charged (powder,patch,ball,powder,patch,ball). In those cases, the soldier most likely didn't realize his rifle had misfired and thus loaded it again.

To be sure, most movies or TV plots where someone substitutes a blank for live ammo are completely absurd. Not all such real-life situations are so absurd, however.

[MetalHeadConservative35]

HEY!!! ill do the dirty work ^_^

[MeekOneGOP]

Yeah, I think if you are the one with the blank, you'll know it (notice the difference) too !

[MeekOneGOP]

HEY!!! ill do the dirty work ^_^

hehe !

(Conjuring up my best Bob Barker impersonation):

Deathscythex, come on down! You're the next contestant on The DR Inmate's a Goner ! . . .

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

You forget that in a war, someone is shooting at you. That tends to rattle your concentration and make you forget whether you have already loaded your musket or not. That situation does not apply to a firing squad using modern rifles. There is no reloading to get confused in a firing squad, and the kick of a full powered modern rifle is something fierce, whereas a blank has almost no recoil in comparison.

The use of a blank is just a sop to encourage a reluctant member of the firing squad into thinking that maybe he won't be the one to do the actual killing. It seems a little dishonest to me; might as well admit what one is about to do and face up to it. Of course this business about firing blanks probably came about at the same time that public executions were done away with; we all became very squeamish about executions a little over a hundred years ago, for some reason.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

Notice how the media's been headlining this story: like being a white supremacist places someone in the same league as a serial killer and rapist.

But of course. If they could get away with it, they would paint the white supremacist in a worse light compared to the serial killer and rapist. They won't tell you that a lot of whites are raped in prison, and that is why racial gangs are formed. If liberals were really serious about preventing the formation of "racists" in prison, they'd do something about prison rape. But nowadays people openly use the threat of prison rape as another reason to knuckle under and obey Big Brother. It's treated like a joke or "just desserts" when in fact it is no laughing matter, and almost never "just".

[30-06 Springfield]

Esquire magazine ran an article soon after Gilmore was executed. Let's see if memory has not failed me. The title was: "I was on the last firing squad" or close to that. It was a first hand report form a member of the firing squad.

1. The rifle used was a Winchester 1894 in 30-30 (Surprising isn't it?)

2. The members were LEO from the area of the crime.

3. They were volunteers.

4. The execution took place indoors. There are two adjoining rooms with a trapdoor style window seperating them. (I imagine earplugs are mandatory)

5. The criminal is seated with a white tee-shirt on and a red heart shaped taget is pinned to his chest. His head is covered with a cloth bag, but is out of sight from the members anyway. The only light was from a floodlight on his chest.

6. Yes, they used one blank.

Beyond this my memory fails me at the moment. Some of the facts may have weathered from age so if there is one or two errors, I apologize, but am about 99% certain on these.

[Age of Reason]

It's hard for me to believe that in their prison system--which has not executed anyone in years--Utah happens to have TWO guys suddenly about to be executed.

One fellow, the serial killer rapist, sounds like the worst kind of monster.

But might that serial killer rapist be a racial minority?

Perhaps he is, and that may be why Utah hastens now also to execute his exact racial opposite: a white criminal who murdered a black criminal--simply to demonstrate that Utah is not racist in its application of the death penalty.

I wonder if there aren't worse monsters on their death row that deserve execution sooner than this white guy, but because those others may be minorities, they promote the white guy instead?

Reminds me of something else Utah did recently: Jailing that fellow for polygamy, so that Utah may seem a more "civilized" place to host the Olympics.

How transparent.

[Age of Reason]

The use of a blank is just a sop to encourage a reluctant member of the firing squad into thinking that maybe he won't be the one to do the actual killing.

How sad.

The privilege to participate in the execution of scum should be one of life's great joys.