The ingredients used by a firing squad can be bought over the counter.
Via Fox News:
A judge denied an appeal Friday from a Utah death row inmate who argued that his sentence of death by firing squad is cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson wrote in his ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court has never overturned a state’s chosen method of execution as cruel and unusual, though he said inmate Ron Lafferty can still press his claims in Utah state court.
Utah recently approved the use of a firing squad as a backup if lethal injection drugs are unavailable.
Lafferty, 74, had argued that the firing squad would cause a lingering, unnecessarily painful death. He chose to die that way when he was sentenced 30 years ago and such a choice was available, but his lawyers now argue that he wasn’t legally competent to do so.
Attorneys for Lafferty did not immediately return a message seeking comment. He is likely still years away from a possible execution date.
Utah is the only state that allows executions by firing squad if lethal injection drugs aren’t available. State lawmakers said the approval was a practical matter of choosing a backup plan to the drugs that have come under increasing scrutiny.