Trump Administration Expands Federal Execution Methods to Include Firing Squad

The Trump administration said it will allow firing squads as a method for carrying out federal executions.

According to Yonhap News Agency and Reuters on the 25th, the U.S. Justice Department said in a recent report that it will add firing squads, the electric chair and gas asphyxiation as alternative methods, citing difficulties obtaining lethal-injection drugs.

Lethal injection is currently the most common execution method in the United States. The department said it plans to broaden the available options.

The Justice Department also ordered the restoration of procedures for using pentobarbital, a lethal-injection drug adopted during the first Trump administration.

The department said executions using pentobarbital do not violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” and meet constitutional standards.

In a statement, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the previous administration, the Biden administration, “failed to meet its duty to protect the American people” by refusing to carry out the maximum penalty for the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child killers and those who kill police officers.