New Bill Adds Firing Squad as Option for Death Row Executions

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill this legislative session that would allow the state to execute death row inmates by firing squad, with more than one shooter simultaneously firing at the inmate.

Currently, the state of Indiana only allows lethal injection for death row inmates. Supporters of the bill said the lethal doses can be difficult to obtain and are expensive at $300,000 a dose.

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law heard from the bill’s author, State Sen. Michael Young, a Republican from Indianapolis. He clarified that Senate Bill 11 doesn’t eliminate lethal injection as the way to execute death row inmates.

“This bill doesn’t say it has to be a firing squad,” Sen. Young said. “It says that if they can’t do it by chemical methods, that this is another alternative left up to them.”

Sen. Young’s bill is one of many measures pending in the 2026 session related to the death penalty.

Zack Stock with the Indiana Public Defender Council said he’s opposed to the bill. He also spoke before the Senate committee on Tuesday, calling the bill “a solution in search of a problem.”

“Whether you believe the death punishment is morally wrong or just punishment that saves lives, Senate Bill 11 isn’t going to change how capital punishment operates in Indiana,” Stock said.

Indiana currently has five people on death row.

The committee did not take any action on the bill on Tuesday.