I'm watching westworld and as the characters were about to execute a man by firing squad it occurred to me that it seems like a bit of a waste and less humane then say one guy shooting him in the head or all of them just standing a foot away shooting.
My assumption would be that it's more so for the executioners. So that none of them would feel as guilty since they wouldn't know who actually killed the person.
I'm just curious as to why they decided to go about it in this way.
death by firing squad, as used in the US as a form of capital punishment or other means of punishment was carried out by a squad FIRING AT THE SAME TIME for 2 main reasons. (I capitalized that statement as firing at the same time is basically as important to the question as there being multiple executioners)
one single individual couldn't hold up the show by contesting their unwillingness to fire or trying to contest the innocence of the soon to be executed.
as well no single individual would know who actually killed them or fired the terminal shot, in some cases, especially those of judicial execution, some, or all but one rifle, would be loaded with blanks. this was a means to protect the executioners from facing retaliation from the executed friends, and to minimize grief.
it was also at times used in military to reinforce solidarity of the team, especially if the person being executed was charged with cowardice, eviction of duty etc. some of these situations it would be their fellow soldiers carrying out the execution as a showing of being found guilty by the group.
"seems like a bit of a waste and less humane then say one guy shooting him in the head"
most of the time the squad was encouraged to shoot at the chest or heart to avoid disfiguring the individual. as well, if a single executioner missed, or fired a ineffective shot, that would be horrifying for both the executed and executioner. (another reason it was a squad)
keep in mind this is mostly death by firing squad as used in the US and military in a more official tone. firing squad was a method employed by both official and non-official/government groups throughout history and does not necessarily need to be a firearm, essentially any inexpensive handy weapon was used.
literature supports this as Saint Sebastian was killed by an archer squad as early as 288 AD. "And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks, and thus left him there for dead.".
disclaimer: this is my first time responding to something on askhistorians, I know the subs rules comprehensive answers etc. hopefully this is acceptable.