US to allow firing squads, gas, and electrocution for federal executions

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued new guidance allowing federal prisons to use firing squads, gas asphyxiation, and electrocution for carrying out death sentences, expanding beyond the traditional lethal injection method. This policy reversal follows President Trump's executive order on his first day in office directing federal authorities to pursue capital punishment again, after the Biden administration had imposed a moratorium and commuted most federal death sentences. The DOJ claims these expanded methods will ensure executions can proceed even when specific drugs are difficult to obtain, while defending lethal injection with pentobarbital as the preferred approach.