SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah's Republican Speaker of the House is backing an effort to repeal the death penalty in the state three years after lawmakers voted to reinstate the use of the firing squad as a backup execution method.

House Speaker Greg Hughes and Republican Rep. Gage Froerer say it will be an uphill battle to persuade the GOP-controlled Legislature to ban capital punishment even though a similar ban came close to passing two years ago.

The lawmakers say that abolishing the death penalty has been seen as a liberal position but conservatives who profess to be "Pro-Life," believe that government is imperfect and should be limited ought to also support the ban.

Both lawmakers voted in 2015 to reinstate the firing squad.

Hughes says if the government is going to put people to death than it should not be sanitized.