The passage of the bill by the state Senate on Tuesday comes as states struggle to obtain lethal injection drugs amid a nationwide shortage . The bill 's sponsor , Republican Rep. Ronnie Lee Gardner of Clearfield , touted the measure as being a more humane form of execution . There have been several drawn-out deaths that have occurred in botched lethal injections . Ralph Dellapiana , director of Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty called firing squads ' a relic of a more barbaric past ' Utah 's last execution was by a firing squad in 2010 , when Paul Ray was executed by five officers with .30-caliber Winchester rifles .
The passage of the bill by the state Senate on Tuesday comes as states struggle to obtain lethal injection drugs amid a nationwide shortage . The bill 's sponsor , Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield , touted the measure as being a more humane form of execution . There have been several drawn-out deaths that have occurred in botched lethal injections . Ralph Dellapiana , director of Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty called firing squads ' a relic of a more barbaric past ' Utah 's last execution was by a firing squad in 2010 , when Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by five officers with .30-caliber Winchester rifles .