For proponents of capital punishment, the scarcity of execution drugs has become a problem. Pharmaceutical companies generally want their medications to be used to save lives, not deliberately kill people, so they’ve taken steps to prevent state officials from using their products in state-sanctioned lethal injections.
This has led some states — where officials are especially eager to put people to death — to give fresh looks to deadly methods that the United States had previously left behind. As the Associated Press reported, one of the nation’s reddest states has now done exactly that.
Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a bill allowing execution by firing squad, making Idaho the latest state to turn to older methods of capital punishment amid a nationwide shortage of lethal-injection drugs. The Legislature passed the measure March 20 with a veto-proof majority. Under it, firing squads will be used only if the state cannot obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections.
The AP, citing information from the Death Penalty Information Center, added that four other red states — Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma, and South Carolina — also have laws allowing firing squads if other execution methods are unavailable, though South Carolina’s law is currently on hold until ongoing litigation is resolved.
The shortage has prompted other states in recent years to revive older methods of execution. Only Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma, and South Carolina have laws allowing firing squads if other execution methods are unavailable, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Idaho, in other words, is joining a small club.
The AP’s report added:
Idaho Sen. Doug Ricks, a Republican who co-sponsored that state’s firing squad bill, told his fellow senators Monday (3/20) that the state’s difficulty in finding lethal injection drugs could continue “indefinitely,” that he believes death by firing squad is “humane,” and that the bill would help ensure the rule of law…
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