The death penalty is a controversial issue, obviously. I’ve seen enough wrongful convictions that I can’t advocate for capital punishment.
The same is true of Dr. Jim Williams, a friend and one of my fourth level graduates. However, as an MD he is practical enough to realize that if people are going to be killed by the state, it should happen swiftly and painlessly. There are some real horror stories involving lethal injection out there.
Read Jim’s take on it here at the Marshall Project. Jim is the man who coined the term Tactical Anatomy, wrote a book on the same topic, and teaches a class by that name. His focus is on where to put a bullet to stop lethal aggression when faced with a homicidal criminal. You can learn more at tacticalanatomy.com.
There is no gentle way to kill a man. However, if it must be done, the most instantaneous and painless method is a bullet through deep brain.
If I knew I was irrevocably going to be put to death, it’s what I’d ask for.
Doesn’t work so well for open casket funerals!
Citizens in good standing with 4 out of 5 with a blank in chamber of their rifle. Heart shots would seem most fool proof.
Perhaps if the powers that control this, and their constituents are averse to ‘guns’ being used, a contraption could be built to secure the seated prisoner’s body and head, and have a physician or anatomy expert correctly position a bolt type device, similar to what is used in some slaughter houses. Little chance of a miss with something like this. That works very quickly with cattle.
I have read that the Makarov 9x18s were pretty effective in the basement at the Kremlin too.
@David Rodgers: Speaking myself as a Makarov owner and enthusiast (it’s my EDC/CCW piece), I like how you think!
The Lubyanka it was. Plus a thousand other places.
Inhalation of nitrogen is quick and easy.
The squeamish will definitely balk at that. My ideal would be simultaneous 5 major rifle rounds (non-expanding) to the heart. blood pressure loss will be basically instantaneous, and it can be done through a timed rig. The condemned would not have time to feel anything.
And really, it’s the most American execution method available, if we’re going to go there.
I think I would pick the firing squad over lethal injection, Ol’ Sparky, or nitrogen gas though it will probably come down to too many cheeseburgers or a young girlfriend in the end.
I have found myself in the minority more than once among fellow conservatives when it comes to capital punishment. I oppose it for two reasons, one moral and one pragmatic. I too am concerned that an innocent defendant will be wrongly convicted and executed. I also note that it is cheaper to lock them up for life than it is to navigate the legal proceedings to get to the point of carrying out the execution.
I agree with you 100%. It’s cheaper in the long run. And it’s hard to undo a death sentence. Look at all the innocent people being freed by DNA these days. The death penalty makes innocent people plead to lesser charges to save their lives.
While the anatomy (hit the important stuff) thing isn’t new to me, I’m gonna order some new reading material. The Gunfight Myths ought to be engraved on granite tablets and placed on many ranges. I’ve had a number of new-to-the-country/shooting-critters folks express amazement when the fox or whatever that was killing their farm animals didn’t do a double back flip and immediately expire.
Come to think of it, after reading an appellate opinion, I know some jurists that need to take that class.
Anyone wanting to take a class on this subject should go to one of three places –
If you are already a certified firearms instructor, Dr. Williams is offering a Tactical Anatomy Instructor class in May east of Oklahoma City and the very nice Mead Hall Range.
John Hearne of Two Pillars Training is offering his Cognitive Pistol with Tactical Anatomy class several times in 2025 around the country. In fact, he is offering his course this coming weekend in Gainesville, FL. Find where and when he is offering his classes at twopillarstrainingcom.
There is also a Tactical Anatomy Summit being held in Nashville in April (Royal Range) and in Fort Worth in June (Defender Outdoors).
Any of the above courses are highly recommended.
Thank you for this, I didn’t know he was still teaching. I would love to be at that summit class.
Never been present at an execution but have had to put a couple of dogs down via lethal injection. It seemed pretty painless to me which was the point instead of letting them die of cancer. How many of the problems with executions done that way are the products of medical leftists litigating against the drugs involved.
I’m not much of a death penalty backer either Mas. So the UK Whole Life Order is a suitable substitute, in a supermax style setting.
In Italy in WWII, GIs were definitely chosen to serve on firing squads. I was not told who was being shot, but was told by such a chosen shooter GI about a target individual who was actually inadvertently shot only in one leg after being blindfolded and tied to a post in front of a wall. The aforesaid GI obviously found that simply being appointed a shooter was dramatically traumatic. He did not say that he actually shot anybody (he may have, who knows?) who was tied up, but the memory of the firing squad alone appeared to be as unforgettable as any event in his 650 days of combat time. The stuff of regular nightmares for sure. Also, a bullet in the heart is likely also to penetrate deeply and stun or break the spine. Not that I would be totally against the firing squad as a desirable means of applying justice. Just that psychological care should be available.
I agree with the sentiment that capital punishment is “dangerous” because an innocent person may be executed. However, I think that our ability to correctly determine the guilt of the offending party is better- thanks in part to technology (DNA analysis especially), but also because juries can be expected to be better educated and informed than in the past.
It’s not a perfect system- nothing we create will ever be- but I am okay with staying the course until and unless something drastically changes in the socio-political landscape.
“because juries can be expected to be better educated and informed than in the past”
That depends a lot on where the jury pool comes from, and which members of it the prosecutor eliminates in voir dire. Don’t get in trouble in NYC, LA, or Austin.
One argument, against the capital punishment, is that:
“It is better that ten guilty men go free than that one innocent man be found guilty.”
You see variants of this kind of thinking in some of the comments above. However, this is “emotional” (A.K.A Left-Wing) thinking. It is not hard logic. When one considers the further harm that the “ten guilty men”, who go free, will cause to multiple, innocent people, then it is certainly not “better”.
Leftists turn a blind eye to the pain and suffering caused by their “soft on crime” policies. Their hearts bleed for everyone except the crime victims. Whatever else you say about capital punishment, it is the one sure cure to prevent repeat offending.
Mas occasionally mentions the legal doctrine of “Competing Harms”. The idea is that a lesser harm should be selected over the option that will produce a greater harm. If one applies that doctrine to capital punishment, then I think the case can be made in favor of it.
The potential harms of (a) executing an innocent person, and/or (b) having a potential botched execution do not outweigh (IMHO) the benefits of preventing, in the most positive manner possible, a hyper-dangerous psychopath from escaping (or being released) who then goes on to claim even more victims in the future. When one looks that the recidivism rates for hardened criminals, capital punishment can meet this test of cold logic.
It has always been the case that a small percentage of any human population commits the vast majority of crimes. Cold logic suggests that the elimination of that small percentage of “the worst of the worst” criminals will pay big dividends in reducing the overall crime rate and the ever-growing list of crime victims.
Hmmm… these are some solid points.