Little signs firing squad bill
Measure, effective next year, turns guns into Idaho’s primary execution method
BOISE — Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a new law making the firing squad the state’s primary method of execution.
Little signed House Bill 37 on Wednesday morning, according to a bill action tracker on the governor’s office website.
Idaho has had the execution method as its secondary method since the passage of a 2023 law, which was made into law amid difficulty in obtaining the chemicals needed for lethal injection.
“I have long made clear my support of capital punishment,” Little said in an emailed statement. “My signing of House Bill 37 is consistent with my support of the Idaho Legislature’s actions in setting the policies around methods of execution in the State of Idaho. As Governor, my job is to follow the law and ensure that lawful criminal sentences are carried out as ordered by the courts.”
House Bill 37 doesn’t go into effect until July 1, 2026. Bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, has said that will give the Idaho Department of Correction adequate time to remodel a facility in its maximum-security prison for use of the firing squad and to develop a policy for its use.
The method has rarely been used in the U.S. since the 1970s, although it was used more widely during colonial times and amid the Civil War.
South Carolina on March 7 became the first state to execute a U.S. inmate via firing squad in 15 years. Brad Sigmon chose the method over electric chair or lethal injection, the Associated Press reported.
Idaho is one of five states that authorizes use of a firing squad, although the other states all use another method as their primary, information from the Death Penalty Information Center shows.
There are nine inmates on death row in Idaho.
Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.
