The image of gunmen in a row firing in unison into the chest of a condemned prisoner may conjure up a bygone, less enlightened era. But the idea of using firing squads is making a comeback. Idaho lawmakers passed a bill this week seeking to add the state to the list of those authorizing firing squads, currently Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Fresh interest comes as states scramble for alternatives to lethal injections after pharmaceuticals barred the use of their drugs. Some, including a few Supreme Court justices, view firing squads as less cruel than lethal injections despite the violence involved in riddling bodies with bullets. Others say it’s not cut-and-dry, or that there are other factors to consider. Here is a look at the status of firing squads in the United States: WHEN WAS THE LAST EXECUTION BY FIRING SQUAD? Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed at Utah State Prison on June 18, 2010, for killing an attorney during a courthouse escape attempt. Gardner sat in a chair, sandbags around him and a target pinned over his heart. Five prison staffers drawn from a pool of volunteers fired from 25 feet (about 8 meters) away with .30-caliber rifles. Gardner was pronounced dead two minutes later. A blank cartridge was loaded into one rifle without anyone knowing which. That’s partly done to enable those bothered later by their participation to believe they may not have fired a fatal bullet. Utah is the only state to have used firing squads in the last 50 years, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. WHAT HAS CAUSED THE LETHAL DRUG SCARCITY? Under Idaho’s bill, firing squads would be used only if executioners can’t obtain the drugs required for lethal injections. As lethal injection became the primary execution method in the 2000s, drug companies began barring use of their drugs, saying they were meant to save lives, not take them. States have found it difficult to obtain the cocktail of drugs they long relied on, such as sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Some states have switched to more accessible drugs such as pentobarbital or midazolam, both of which, critics say, can cause excruciating pain. Other states have turned to alternatives, with some either reauthorizing the use of electric chairs and gas chambers or at least considering doing so. That’s where firing squads come in. ARE THEY MORE HUMANE? Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is among those who say they probably are. That idea is based on expectations that bullets will strike the heart, rupturing it and causing immediate unconsciousness as the inmate quickly bleeds to death. “In addition to being near instant, death by shooting may also be comparatively painless,” Sotomayor wrote in a 2017 dissent. Her comments were in the case of an Alabama inmate who asked to be executed by firing squad. A Supreme Court majority refused to hear his appeal. Sotomayor agreed in her dissent that lethal drugs can mask intense pain by paralyzing inmates while they are still sentient. “What cruel irony that the method that appears most humane may turn out to be our most cruel experiment yet,” she wrote. IS THERE A COUNTER-ARGUMENT TO THAT? In a 2019 federal case, prosecutors submitted statements from anesthesiologist Joseph Antognini, who said painless deaths by firing squads […]

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