BOISE, Idaho, USA – With a veto-proof majority, Idaho lawmakers on Monday approved a bill that would allow death row inmates to be executed by firing squad. The proposal now heads to the governor’s desk.
Firing squads would be used only if state authorities are unable to obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections, but one death row inmate has already postponed his scheduled execution several times because of drug shortages.
Idaho once had a firing squad option, but never used it. That option was removed from state law in 2009 after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lethal injection method that was commonly used at the time.
Only Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina currently have laws that allow firing squads if other methods of execution are not available, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. A judge stayed the South Carolina law pending a lawsuit challenging the method.