Idaho lawmakers have introduced a bill to make a firing squad the primary method of execution in the state. Under Idaho law, lethal injection is the primary method, but executions by firing squad are allowed if executioners can't obtain the drugs required.

A bill was introduced Tuesday to make the firing squad the primary method of execution by the state. Currently, the state’s primary method of carrying out the death penalty is

Utah is the only state to have used firing squads in the past 50 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Idaho’s neighboring state executed Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010 by firing squad. Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina also permit use of the firing squad as an alternative to lethal injection.

A bill was introduced to the Idaho Legislature to make death by firing squad the main style of execution in the state. Representative Bruce Skaug (R) and Senator Doug Ricks (R) presented it on Tuesday,

Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced the bill Tuesday, which would make Idaho the only U.S. state to give preference to a firing squad. Skaug sponsored a bill that became law in 2023 that added back the firing squad as a backup method of execution in the state, but only when lethal injection is not possible because of a lack of execution drugs.

I see this bill as being less problematic with appeals in the courts,” said Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, who proposed the change in law.

A bill put forward by Republican lawmakers in Idaho has just passed a judiciary committee to make firing squads the primary execution method in the state, following the failure of the lethal injection last year.