SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The Utah state legislature approved a bill Wednesday allowing the state to execute death row inmates via firing squad if the approved lethal injection drugs are unavailable.
Because the European companies that develop the deadly cocktail oppose the death penalty, they have stopped fulfilling orders from the United States.
"This bill deals with how do we, for lack of a better word, execute the death penalty," Republican state Rep. Paul Ray told KSL Utah.
Ray insisted the bill is merely "a backup," adding, "Hopefully, we never have to use it."
"We are going backward here in Utah when we should be making progress," countered Rep. Mark Wheatley, a Democrat, who voted against the measure.
"This is not a proactive approach. This is reactionary. We are not proposing real solutions. We are hiding behind outdated and ineffective policies," Wheatley said.
Although the Utah legislature voted to suspend the firing squad in 2003, in 2010 a firing squad was used to execute Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was sentenced before the suspension.
"It's an instant death," explained Ray.
"A lot of these folks are dead before they even hear the gun."
