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mysteryowl

(9,349 posts) Sat Apr 25, 2026, 02:29 PM Saturday

US justice department to allow firing squads as federal death penalty method

Trump’s DoJ says it is taking steps to ‘strengthen the federal death penalty’ in opposition to Biden-era policies.
The US justice department announced on Friday that it is taking steps to “strengthen the federal death penalty”, including bringing back firing squads and readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump administration.

“Today, the Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences – clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals,” the justice department said in a news release.

In the statement, the department said that the actions taken include “readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump Administration”, which “relies on pentobarbital as the lethal agent”, and “expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad”.
[snip]
Federal executions had been on hold since 2021, when the then-attorney general, Merrick Garland, imposed a moratorium on federal executions under the Joe Biden presidency, pending “a review of the Justice Department’s policies and procedures”.

During Trump’s first term, the government also resumed federal executions after a nearly 20-year pause.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/24/doj-death-penalty-firing-squad-lethal-injection

If they want to kill prisoners, assisted death for the terminally ill take a few pills and die quietly at home.

Personally, I have always wanted to give the decision to the one sentenced to death.
1) life in a cell, or...
2) death by whatever method they choose.

9 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

US justice department to allow firing squads as federal death penalty method (Original Post) mysteryowl Saturday OP

Those seem like very humane choices. But rape a kid only wants fun TV. efhmc Saturday #1

Nature gives all life and only Nature should be allowed to end it. anciano Saturday #2

So, if a former U.S. president Mme. Defarge Saturday #3

Kealhouling Trump would be appropriate. nt doc03 Saturday #4

Just so that an extremely large prisoner Mme. Defarge Saturday #7

Well, I guess we'll know how to use trump's hideous arches after the fascists fall struggle4progress Saturday #5

I kinda hope someone picks firing squad xmas74 Saturday #6

Sadly, people would flock to it like porn Buckeyeblue Saturday #8

MaddowBlog-Justice Department advocates firing squads as a method of federal execution LetMyPeopleVote Tuesday #9

efhmc

(16,883 posts)

1. Those seem like very humane choices. But rape a kid only wants fun TV.

Reply to mysteryowl (Original post)

Sat Apr 25, 2026, 02:48 PM

Saturday

anciano

(2,290 posts)

2. Nature gives all life and only Nature should be allowed to end it.

Reply to mysteryowl (Original post)

Sat Apr 25, 2026, 02:50 PM

Saturday

Mme. Defarge

(9,038 posts)

3. So, if a former U.S. president

Reply to mysteryowl (Original post)

Sat Apr 25, 2026, 03:52 PM

Saturday

were to receive a death sentence after being tried and convicted for treason, should it be a firing squad or lethal injection which could be more painful?

doc03

(39,135 posts)

4. Kealhouling Trump would be appropriate. nt

Reply to Mme. Defarge (Reply #3)

Sat Apr 25, 2026, 05:04 PM

Saturday

Mme. Defarge

(9,038 posts)

7. Just so that an extremely large prisoner

Reply to doc03 (Reply #4)

Sat Apr 25, 2026, 08:01 PM

Saturday

wouldn’t sink the ship.

struggle4progress

(126,529 posts)

5. Well, I guess we'll know how to use trump's hideous arches after the fascists fall

Reply to mysteryowl (Original post)

Sat Apr 25, 2026, 06:44 PM

Saturday

xmas74

(30,076 posts)

6. I kinda hope someone picks firing squad

Reply to mysteryowl (Original post)

Sat Apr 25, 2026, 07:04 PM

Saturday

Demands it be televised and that the person demands to see each person's face as they pull the trigger. I hope that person requests no hood. I also hope that person also demands that there are no blanks so every single person on the firing squad knows they're involved in state sanctioned murder.

And I absolutely want it aired on prime time. I want people to be forced to watch when the life dies in a person's eyes to realize how awful the death penalty can be.

Buckeyeblue

(6,408 posts)

8. Sadly, people would flock to it like porn

Reply to xmas74 (Reply #6)

Sat Apr 25, 2026, 08:24 PM

Saturday

It would get very high ratings. And people would demand more. When they used to do public hangings people would come from far and wide and make a day out of watching someone swing. Gross.

LetMyPeopleVote

(181,155 posts)

9. MaddowBlog-Justice Department advocates firing squads as a method of federal execution

Reply to mysteryowl (Original post)

Tue Apr 28, 2026, 11:49 AM

Tuesday

Team Trump is apparently comfortable rolling back the clock, not because firing squads have become more sanitary, but because it just doesn’t seem to care.

On executions, thereâ€™s been a generational pattern of adopting methods considered less gruesome and less barbaric than previous methods.

But when it comes to firing squads, Trump, Blanche, and Co. are rolling back the clock â€” because they just donâ€™t seem to care.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-27T17:34:15.976Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/justice-department-advocates-firing-squads-as-a-method-of-federal-execution

During Joe Biden’s presidency, the Democratic administration took steps to end federal executions, including a measure that converted 37 death row inmates’ sentences to life in prison. Donald Trump vowed to reverse course and use federal powers to kill more people. To that end, the Republican president and his team have authorized seeking death sentences against 44 defendants.

But as important as these developments are, it’s also notable how, exactly, Team Trump is prepared to proceed with these executions. The Associated Press reported:

The Justice Department will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution as the Trump administration moves to ramp up and expedite capital punishment cases, officials said Friday. […]

The federal government has not previously included firing squad as a method of execution in its protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Five states currently allow executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.

.....Time will tell what becomes of the shift and whether there are related Eighth Amendment court fights, but the developments reminded me of something Rachel Maddow told viewers back in 2014, when Republican policymakers advanced similar measures at the state level.

“Over time, we’ve executed people by a number of different methods in this country,” she explained. “And every time, as we evolve out of one old method and into a new one, we tell ourselves that the new one is a more humane way of doing it, a more sanitized way of doing it. It’s a more certain way of killing people. And then, eventually, to use a legal term, our evolving standards of decency grow us out of our latest method of killing people and into a new one.”

The observation stuck with me because it’s both true and important. There’s been a pattern of American officials agreeing to kill American citizens in ways considered less gruesome and less barbaric than previous methods. Hangings gave way to firing squads, which gave way to the electric chair, which gave way to lethal injection and so on.....

But in 2026, Trump and his team are apparently comfortable rolling back the clock, not because firing squads have somehow become more sanitary, but because they just don’t seem to care.

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