It still a choice in some States. It never went away.
Five U.S. states currently authorize the firing squad as a method of execution (as of late 2026): Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.
Army: 12 dead in 31 wounded shooting attacks at Fort Hood base in Texas
- Thread starter gerryh
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Five U.S. states currently authorize the firing squad as a method of execution (as of late 2026): Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.
When is the last time any of them used it? Then when is the last time any of them used it publicly? Televised it? Live-streamed?
This dude is a dirty shit and he deserves to go, don’t get me wrong, but this has such a “Hunger Games” aristocrats decree sort of feel to it.
When was the last time the US federal government or its military executed somebody publicly? Why now? Actually, the better question is why announce it now?
Public executions were not ended by a single federal ban; instead, individual states phased them out through local legislation—culminating in the last official state-sanctioned public hanging in Owensboro, Kentucky, on August 14, 1936, which had the carnival atmosphere that Trump wanted for his birthday in Washington DC & it embarrassed the local officials and politicians with the 20,000 or so people that were in attendance like it was a big circus.