Even if there is a global uproar over Indonesia’s use of a firing squad to execute local and foreign drug smugglers, the state of Utah is mulling the use also of that method. The reason behind the state’s considering an alternative execution method is problems securing drugs to make an effective lethal injection cocktail.

AP reports that the state’s legislature approved on Monday a bill that would bring back the firing squad in the event that Utah couldn’t find lethal injection drugs. It is still not sure if Republican Utah Gov Gary Herbert will sign the bill into a law.

A statement from the governor says, “Gov. Herbert does not commit to action on a bill until he has reviewed the final version that has passed both the House and the Senate. He is, however, willing to discuss the principles by which he evaluates legislation.”

If Herbert signs the bill, Utah would be the first state to rely on firing squad to execute inmates on its death-row. Republican Representative Paul Ray, author of the bill, insists the firing squad is a more humane way than lethal injection.

Utah and several states have past experiences of death-row convicts suffering extreme and prolonged pain when a new cocktail was injected because the old mixture could no longer be made since pharmaceutical companies have stopped producing the drugs due to criticism on the ethics of lethal injection.

This has led to some status using controversial drugs like midazolam that is being blamed for botched lethal injections. The US Supreme Court is also reviewing the use of midazolam.

The protocol for a firing squad involves sitting the convict on a chair where he is bound with leather straps on the waist and head. The five shooters would be positioned 20 feet away, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

One of the shooters would be loaded with a dummy bullet, likely made of wax, so that none of the five firing squad members would know whose bullet ended the life of a death-row convict, reports BBC.

Before Utah repealed in 2004 the firing squad as an option, seven inmates were executed in the state using this option. The first was Gary Gilmore in 1976 and the last was Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Utah currently has nine death-row convicts.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au