Would you be able to execute somebody sentenced to death?

[Narz]

I would not kill.

 

[Masquerouge]

No, unless it is a pink baby kitten.

 

[BCLG100]

I would not do it, even it was the evil bin Laden, as I am morally opposed to the death penalty. If I met him in combat and he refused to surrender, however, I wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

thats how i think about it as well, the combat also has to be for a reason i believe is right.

 

[CaptainF]

The thing thats funny for those who said they would do it on a firing squad is that you wouldn't know if you killed the criminal.

In firing squads, there are usually 3-5 people. The squadmembers use bolt action rifles, but only one is loaded with the live round, the rest have blanks. So you wouldn't really get to figure out if you ever killed him.

I guess that might make it a little easier for the executioner...

 

[Blazer6]

The U.S. made an automatic firing squad involving several guns that would all fire at once with the pull of a string and one of them would also be armed. It was a one shot though and got scrapped.
The methods people come up with just to not feel like they got their hands dirty.

 

[7ronin]

Executions are usually group actions. Sure there may be one person who flips the switch, pulls the lever, or gives the command to fire, but he has a host of assistants who do the strapping in, placing of hoods, firing of rifles, and insertion of needles. Their participation may actually be harder because they have direct physical contact with the condemned whereas in many cases all the executioner has to do is stand aside and watch.

In any case, I think that we would all agree that being an executioner or participating in an execution requires a certain emotional detachment. The Germans discovered this during World War II when they observed that the average soldier despite patriotic motivation and a willingness to kill the enemy was generally not emotionally equipped to perform mass executions.

 

[nonconformist]

The thing thats funny for those who said they would do it on a firing squad is that you wouldn't know if you killed the criminal.

In firing squads, there are usually 3-5 people. The squadmembers use bolt action rifles, but only one is loaded with the live round, the rest have blanks. So you wouldn't really get to figure out if you ever killed him.

I guess that might make it a little easier for the executioner...

Well, in a (western) military, execution by firing squad usually has one member loaded with blanks, so that noone can actually take the blame for the execution.

However, it is fairly easy to tell from the recoil whether or not your rifle was loaded with blanks.

 

[Bartleby]

Not exactly the same thing, but an interesting comparison

 

[MamboJoel]

Find somebody else.

 

[IglooDame]

Well, in a (western) military, execution by firing squad usually has one member loaded with blanks, so that noone can actually take the blame for the execution.

However, it is fairly easy to tell from the recoil whether or not your rifle was loaded with blanks.

That was my first thought - I've never shot a rifle or pistol that was loaded with blanks, but working off the fact that television shows where the guns are presumably loaded with blanks (assuming they don't just CGI the whole firing sequence) and have obvious lack of recoil, I'd think that one could tell when one pulled the trigger.

 

[carlosMM]

That was my first thought - I've never shot a rifle or pistol that was loaded with blanks, but working off the fact that television shows where the guns are presumably loaded with blanks (assuming they don't just CGI the whole firing sequence) and have obvious lack of recoil, I'd think that one could tell when one pulled the trigger.

there's blanks and there's blanks - you can have blanks with enough explosive substance (various are used) to give a bang, and you can have normal cratridges with a bullet made from a material that immediately fractures into dust after leaving the barrel. It is possible to kill yourself with these, but not someone a few meters off. Those have full recoil (I know, I shot a .44 with both live and blank ammo).

 

[IglooDame]

there's blanks and there's blanks - you can have blanks with enough explosive substance (various are used) to give a bang, and you can have normal cratridges with a bullet made from a material that immediately fractures into dust after leaving the barrel. It is possible to kill yourself with these, but not someone a few meters off. Those have full recoil (I know, I shot a .44 with both live and blank ammo).

Thanks for the info.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

I wouldn't be prepared to do it, and I don't think I would be capable of doing it (though it's a bit tricky to be sure about the second of these given the first part of my reply.)

 

[nonconformist]

That was my first thought - I've never shot a rifle or pistol that was loaded with blanks, but working off the fact that television shows where the guns are presumably loaded with blanks (assuming they don't just CGI the whole firing sequence) and have obvious lack of recoil, I'd think that one could tell when one pulled the trigger.

I'm hardly an expert, my dear Igloo, but there should be a noticable difference between a gun firing paper-wad blanks, and the real deal.

In TV shows. they actually don't normally use blanks, but rather high-end gas BB guns, which they then edit to have a muzzle flash, and sound.

 

[nonconformist]

there's blanks and there's blanks - you can have blanks with enough explosive substance (various are used) to give a bang, and you can have normal cratridges with a bullet made from a material that immediately fractures into dust after leaving the barrel. It is possible to kill yourself with these, but not someone a few meters off. Those have full recoil (I know, I shot a .44 with both live and blank ammo).

Well, blanks in themselves can be very deadly, consideirng the muzzlespeed and mass.

 

[MobBoss]

Well, blanks in themselves can be very deadly, consideirng the muzzlespeed and mass.

Thats true. There have been a number of actors actually killed by "blanks" because they were penetrated by the wadding/material in the blank.

Brandon Lee was killed in an accident involving blank ammo.

 

[Rambuchan]

In TV shows. they actually don't normally use blanks, but rather high-end gas BB guns, which they then edit to have a muzzle flash, and sound.

Both are used. And the danger in using blanks relates to how close the subject is to the firearm.

 

[CaptainF]

Well, in a (western) military, execution by firing squad usually has one member loaded with blanks, so that noone can actually take the blame for the execution.

However, it is fairly easy to tell from the recoil whether or not your rifle was loaded with blanks.

Well, from what I heard, its hard to tell whether or not you shot a blank or live round unless you're an experienced shooter. And like CarlosMM said, you can have blanks that are damn near impossible to distinguish.

Call me an idiot, but why would loading one gun (out of 5 in the squad for example) with blanks deflect responsibility for the death from the whole group? It seems to me that it would only deflect responsibility from the blank shooter.

 

[Eukaryote]

I went with option 2. I'd prefer to use the gas chamber, it's humane.

 

[The Thracian]

Yes But I'd have to perpare myself for it and I would only want to execute murderers not political prisioners