It's a sad irony that Utah decided to go with lethal injection over firing squad executions due to too much unfavorable publicity, making this the state's final firing squad execution. Objective analysis reveals that the firing squad method is at least as humane as lethal injection (death by poisoning) and hanging (acute shock to CNS). The debate over capital punishment is ALL about emotions and not much else.

I agree a lot with the ACLU, but they got the capital punishment by firing squad argument all wrong (emotionalism IMO). They call it barbaric. So what form of execution do they think isn't barbaric? They call it arbitrary. What's arbitrary when only criminals convicted of murder are executed? Flat out doesn't meet the definition of arbitrary. They said it "bankrupts" the practice of capital punishment. OK, I can't call that comment anything less than stupid. How does a firing squad "bankrupt" capital punishment when it's clearly effective, quick, and as humane as any other alternative? The discussion is emotional, not rational.

Capital punishment is nothing more nor less than society's expression of protecting itself from harm. Interesting given that protection is the primary reason that humans form clans, tribes, city-state-nations instead of scattering randomly about the landscape.

Sg