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.

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.

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 Nampa legislator wants to make death by firing squad the primary way of administering the death penalty in Idaho. Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, introduced the legislation to the Idaho House Judiciary,

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.

Representative Skaug presented legislation in the judiciary committee on Tuesday that would turn the firing squad into Idaho's primary form of execution.The fir