Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed a bill on Monday to allow firing squads to be used to carry out death penalties, should lethal injections not be available.
The bill, HB11, narrowly passed the state’s House and Senate. It was sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, who said that the state needed a backup plan, as drugs used for lethal injection become harder to come by, notes the Deseret News. Marty Carpenter, a spokesman for Herbert, also stressed that lethal injection will still be the primary form of execution.
“We regret anyone ever commits the heinous crime of aggravated murder to merit the death penalty, and we prefer to use our primary method of lethal injection when such sentence is issued,” Carpenter told the Deseret News. “However, when a jury makes the decision and a judge signs a death warrant, enforcing that lawful decision is the obligation of the executive branch.”
Drugs used for lethal injection have been increasingly difficult for the 34 states with capital punishment to get a hold of because the European pharmaceutical companies that make them have refused to send them to the U.S.
The last person to be executed by a firing squad was Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was killed in 2010 in Utah. According to The Associated Press, Ron Lafferty, who killed his sister-in-law and baby daughter in 1984, requested to be killed by a firing squad. Utah had previously pulled the firing squad option in 2004, but Lafferty made his decision before then.
Before signing the bill, Herbert had received a petition with over 6,000 signatures, asking him to veto it. Those who oppose the death penalty also suggested that the state should have abolished it, instead of trying to find another way to keep it alive.
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