Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) on Tuesday suggested bringing back the guillotine as he argued for harsher penalties for drug traffickers his state is battling.
“I think the death penalty should be appropriate for people that kill Mainers,” LePage said Tuesday during a radio interview on WVOM. “I’m all in.”
{mosads}LePage also suggested lethal injections, saying: “Actually, if you want my honest opinion, we should give them an injection of the stuff they sell.”
“What I think we ought to do is bring the guillotine back,” LePage quipped later, unprompted, as the radio hosts offered tempered laughs. “We could have public executions.”
The governor’s office said the remark was a joke illustrating LePage’s support for stricter penalties on drug crimes, according to the Associated Press.
LePage caught flak earlier this month for remarking that drug dealers named “D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty” were importing drugs to the state and impregnating “young, white” girls.
The latest comments from LePage, who has endorsed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the 2016 presidential race, come ahead of a televised town hall Tuesday night in the state.