Should we execute killers by maiming?

Before any of you call me a "bleeding heart," let me get right to the point.
I support the death penalty. In fact, I think it should be used even more than it currently is. I have absolutely no sympathy for juvenile gang-bangers who drive around neighborhoods spraying bullets at people who are wearing the wrong color of hat or scarf...I don't hold out any chance of repentance for tattooed white supremacists hoisting wrenches or Louisville Sluggers in search of the nearest Jew or gay man...I don't pity testosterone-fueled men who fatally "discipline" crying babies or dismember small animals.
There's all kinds of people whom I feel civilized society wouldn't really miss. But that doesn't mean I want to hang out with a few of our esteemed Republican legislators who are confusing blood thirst with the concept of executing people for heinous crimes.
The controversy popped up again in Utah's current legislative session when Bountiful's veteran legislator, Rep. Sheryl Allen, sponsored her bill to abolish the criminal's right to select his or her own method of execution. "The victim never had a choice, so why should we be giving the killer a choice? she asked.
In order to take away the "carnival atmosphere" created by media-driven coverage of firing squad executions, Rep. Allen proposed that all Utah executions be conducted by lethal injection, the format in almost every state in the nation. Farmington's Sen.Greg Bell concurred with Allen's reasoning, saying Americans viewed the firing squad as "a Wild West anachronism," taking the attention off the killer's horrible crimes and placing the focus on the killer himself.
Honestly, Allen's bill is not the most important piece of legislation in the session. Her bill does not increase economic activity, educate children, fund open space, protect the environment or help the homeless. But her proposal makes sense. When Gary Gilmore was preparing to meet his Maker, the world centered on him and his defiance; hardly anyone even mentioned his victims.
But Rep. Allen's bill was seen as weak-kneed and liberal by a few hearty Republican males who seek to be avengers. Sen. Dave Thomas of South Weber -- a man who weekly is nominated for the Cyclops Annual Dumb Quote of the Year Award -- voted against the bill with the comment, "It weakens the death penalty in the state of Utah."
Hmmm... How does it weaken the death penalty? Shoot a person up with poison and that person dies. We no longer have to feed him or clothe him. Lethal injection puts the man, as Rush Limbaugh would say, in "a horizontal position"-- but that's not good enough, I guess, for nitwits like Sen. Thomas who probably dream about the good old days of blood atonement.
C'mon, Sen. Thomas, we live in the 21st Century. If you don't think lethal injection is cruel enough, why limit executions to the firing squad? How about we hire members of the Chosen Few gang and let them hack the condemned with machetes? Why not extend the execution by spearing the body with coat hangers -- one per hour -- until the body is devoid of blood? Why not amputate body parts? Would these methods send your needed message that Utah doesn't put up with no crap? Would maiming put Utah on the map as a territory populated by real God-fearing men?
Or would we just be known as we are now as a state with a few idiot senators?

The views expressed in this column are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily those of the ownership or management of this newspaper.