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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Five U.S. states—including South Carolina—allow executions by firing squad, though it is not the primary execution method in any.
The Context
On Friday, South Carolina executed Brad Sigmon by firing squad, marking the state's first use of the method. The last firing squad execution in the U.S., prior to Sigmon's, occurred 15 years ago.
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Sigmon, 67, who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents in 2001, chose to die by firing squad because of his concerns about the other two methods available in the state: lethal injection and the electric chair. In his final statement, Sigmon called on his fellow Christians to help end the death penalty, according to media witnesses.
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What To Know
Some proponents of the death penalty have touted the firing squad as a more humane method of execution in recent years.
Along with South Carolina, Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah authorize the firing squad as a method of execution.
During firing squad executions, an inmate is typically bound to a chair while a group of shooters open fire from a distance, aiming at the incarcerated person's heart.
Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit with a hood over his head and a white target with a red bull's-eye over his chest as three volunteer prison employees fired at the same time through openings in a wall, the Associated Press reported. A doctor examined Sigmon for 90 seconds about a minute after the shooting, and he was declared dead.
Before Friday's execution, only three inmates in the U.S. had been executed by firing squad, and all three executions occurred in Utah, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). The most recent was the execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner on June 18, 2010.
In 2023, Idaho authorized the firing squad as a method of execution if lethal injection drugs were not available. It is one of several states that have turned to alternative methods amid difficulty obtaining lethal drugs. Lawmakers are considering a bill to make the firing squad Idaho's primary method of execution.
In Arizona, voters could soon decide whether executions are carried out by firing squad instead of lethal injection.
The state House has approved a bill seeking to amend the state constitution to specify the use of firing squads over lethal drugs. If lawmakers in both the House and Senate approve the bill, it would go before voters in 2026.
What People Are Saying
Gerald "Bo" King, an attorney for Brad Sigmon, said in a statement published by DPIC: "Brad Sigmon has repeatedly asked for the basic facts needed to determine if South Carolina's drugs are expired, diluted, or spoiled. He has thus far been denied. He chose the firing squad because he was unwilling to risk the prolonged, torturous death that he fears his friends endured."
Randy Gardner, the brother of Ronnie Lee Gardner, said: "My little brother was the last person in the United States executed by firing squad. … I think it's very vicious and cruel and unusual punishment. I don't think you should be executing anybody in any way."
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a 2017 dissent: "In addition to being near instant, death by shooting may also be comparatively painless."
Matt Wells, the deputy director of Reprieve US, a human rights advocacy group, said in a statement to Newsweek: "It tells you all you need to know about lethal injection that prisoners are so terrified of being tortured on the gurney that they would rather be shot to death. … While the firing squad lays bare the extreme violence of the state taking a human life, in lethal injections the violence is done on the inside, deliberately hidden, to maintain the comforting lie that people can be executed humanely."
What Happens Next
As of March 7, there were 13 other state executions scheduled to take place this year, DPIC reported. The states involved do not authorize the firing squad as a method of execution.
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