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“The weapons and ammunition are bought by the state in massive quantities for law enforcement purposes, so it would be impossible to interdict the supply. And nobody can argue that the weapons are put to a purpose for which they were not intended: firearms have no purpose other than destroying their targets,” he wrote.“Sure, firing squads can be messy, but if we are willing to carry out executions, we should not shield ourselves from the reality that we are shedding human blood. If we, as a society, cannot stomach the splatter from an execution carried out by firing squad, then we shouldn’t be carrying out executions at all.”This is an argument that I've noticed surfaces without fail in the comment sections below death penalty articles: just shoot the bastard in the head. Generally it comes from someone who seems more interested in vengeance rather than, say, concerns about the constitutionality of an execution.But if you are some concerned with making sure executions aren't cruel or unusual, you may actually be in favor of the guillotine. It was designed to prevent the botched execution by ax, requires no medical personnel and even the creator of the three-drug lethal injection cocktail has spoken positively of it. "The simplest thing I know of is the guillotine,” he told CNN. “The person's head is cut off and that's the end of it."But the guillotine has its drawbacks, namely, the grotesque confrontation with what the state is doing in your name and in the name of justice, and we actually can't confront that. During the infamous botched execution of Clayton Lockett, the inmate "struggled violently, groaned and writhed, lifting his shoulders and head from the gurney," according to witnesses. After he struggled for 16 minutes, the blinds separating the chamber from the viewing room were lowered. The process was called off shortly afterward, but a heart attack killed Lockett half an hour later.It's telling that the window blinds were lowered as Lockett began struggling on the gurney, in order to shield the witness who were supposed to be getting closure from the struggling, suffering, eventual death of a man, that was done, at least in part, for their benefit. Like Kozinski's opinion, this detail hints at an uncomfortable truth: Lethal injection isn't designed to protect the prisoners; Lockett is dead. It's designed to protect the public."If we, as a society, cannot stomach the splatter from an execution carried out by firing squad, then we shouldn’t be carrying out executions at all.”