nt hills. There are, however, five methods of killing that have stood the test of time. These are shooting, hanging, electrocution, gassing, and lethal injection. We've hanged people through most of our history, but we only began injecting them with poison in the 1980's.
             The first method of execution to be discussed is shooting. Only two states allow for execution by shooting, Idaho and Utah. (Both states also authorize lethal injection).
             The first recorded execution by firing squad in this country was in 1608. The victim was George Kendal, one of the original councilors for the colony of Virginia. Utah will always be remembered as the site of the 1977 execution of Gary Gilmore, who was the first victim after the 1972 Supreme Court (Furman v. Georgia) ruling against execution. That topic will be discussed in detail later in this paper.
             The following is an example of the procedure for execution by shooting in the United States. First the victim is bound to a chair by leather straps in front of an oval shaped canvas wall. A doctor, using a stethoscope, locates the heart and pins a cloth target directly over it. The victim is then given the choice of a hood.
             Twenty feet away in an enclosure, five sharpshooters stand, each with a .30 caliber rifle. The yard captain issues a single round to each member of the firing party. One receives a blank. The famous "blank round" is mandated so that none of the marksman will know if he was the one who fired the fatal shot. Each man places his weapon through a slot in the canvas and fires in unison. Four bullets rip into the heart.
             Some marksmen have been known to "cheat" and have aimed away from their target, however, at the 1977 shooting of Gary Gilmore his executioners were less squeamish, and all four bullets pierced the heart.
             The next method of execution I will discuss is hanging. At the present time only Washington, Delaware, ...