Arizona could ask voters to allow firing squad executions under GOP proposal [View all]

Republican legislators in Arizona want to bring back death by firing squad as an option for those sentenced to the death penalty, and as a requirement for people convicted of killing a law enforcement officer.

A similar proposal, sponsored by Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin, failed in the Arizona House of Representatives last year, but Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, revived the idea this year.

Payne’s Senate Concurrent Resolution 1049 would ask voters in November to amend the Arizona Constitution to allow death row inmates to choose to be executed by lethal injection, the gas chamber or firing squad. If the person was sentenced to death for murdering a law enforcement officer, the firing squad would be the only execution option.

Senate Bill 1751, also sponsored by Payne, would put the same rules about firing squad executions into state statute, but would only be triggered if voters favor SCR1049.





https://azmirror.com/2026/02/18/arizona-could-ask-voters-to-allow-firing-squad-executions-under-gop-proposal/