Death by firing squad may seem an antiquated method of execution for prisoners facing the death penalty, but the method may become more mainstream as a number of states across the country consider its adoption.

The notion was brought to the public eye this week as lawmakers in Missouri introduced legislation that would add five-member firing squads to take aim at death row prisoners as an unexpected alternative to the state's current method of execution: lethal injection.

The legislation was spurred by the dramatic demise on Thursday of Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire. McGuire went through what some have described as a prolonged and excruciating, and questionably cruel and unusual 25-minute death sentence.

It was the result of what NPR calls a "novel" two-drug concoction that was created by corrections officials in the state when it ran out of its supply of pentobarbital, the traditional drug used for lethal injection.

According to a report from the New York Times, the prison that had housed McGuire utilized an untested combination of midazolam, an anti-anxiety drug similar to Valium and hydromorphone, a morphine derivative.

This type of questionably unconstitutional elixir may become the fall back method for states that administer lethal injections due to the fact that the European manufacturer of pentobarbital has halted sales of the drug to the U.S. in a bid to protest capital punishment, KCTV News Kansas City reports.

However, this unethical practice won't go down in Missouri if State Rep. Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville) has anything to do with it.

Brattin introduced a bill on Friday to offer death by firing squad as a "necessary" alternative to the lethal injection quandary facing American correctional institutions.

Brattin told Reuters that the use of a firing squad as a death penalty alternative would be "no less humane than lethal injection."

"A firing squad would be quick and something we could do at a moment's notice," Brattin told reporters. "My opinion is they would suffer less than lethal injection."

Brattin's House Bill 1470 already has a co-sponsor and he says that he hopes it will secure bipartisan support as it makes its way through Missouri's state government.

"Hopefully we would at least ... start the dialog and see if there's a good push toward getting it through," he said.

NBC News reports that firing squads have all but disappeared in prisons throughout the U.S., with exceptions in only two cases.

Oklahoma law currently allows artillery as an alternative if lethal injection is ever ruled unconstitutional, which may become a talking point as the result of McGuire's death. This is due to the fact that the man's family announced on Friday that it intends to sue Ohio prison officials for the "torture" that he was forced to undergo during his execution.

Utah is the only state that continues to use firing squads on their death row prisoners, but only on inmates convicted before 2004.

Lawmakers in the state of Wyoming, however, may be in the process of joining their Missouri counterparts in considering the adoption of this method.

State Sen. Bruce Burns introduced last week a bill similar to Brattin's. Burns has reportedly introduced the measure because he says his state would have to do something before it runs out of its approved drugs for lethal injection.

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