Idaho on Verge of Becoming Fifth State to Use Firing Squads for Executions

Firing squads are making a comeback, and Idaho is on the verge of becoming the fifth state to use the execution method.

The Whig-Standard noted that this week, Idaho’s legislature passed legislation allowing death by firing squad, stressing that this was passed by veto-proof margins.

This move sets up the firing squad as an execution option for instances in which the drugs for lethal injection cannot be obtained.

Execution by firing squad is currently legal in Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

The Associated Press (AP) reacted to Idaho’s pro-firing squad legislation by noting, “The idea of using firing squads is making a comeback.”

The AP observed that the use of firing squads has become, to many, one of the “alternatives to lethal injections after pharmaceuticals barred the use of their drugs.”

The most recent state-sanctioned death by firing squad was June 18, 201o, in Utah. That was the day Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed.... (Read more)

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