Mirroring an earlier Senate bill, legislators in the South Carolina House today voted to approve the firing squad and the electric chair as methods of execution there and Gov. Henry McMaster has pledged to sign the bill into law. It's been 10 years since South Carolina executed anyone, reportedly because pharmaceutical companies refuse to sell it the drugs required for the deadly chemical cocktails used to kill the condemned. But there are plenty of guns and power stations. From the AP:
The bill, approved by a 66-43 vote, will require condemned inmates to choose either being shot or electrocuted if lethal injection drugs aren't available. The state is one of only nine to still use the electric chair and will become only the fourth to allow a firing squad. … There are several prisoners in line to be executed. Corrections officials said three of South Carolina's 37 death row inmates are out of appeals. But lawsuits against the new death penalty rules are also likely.
