A Catholic nonprofit that campaigns against capital punishment is speaking out against an Arizona bill that would allow death row inmates to be executed by firing squad — and require that method in cases involving the killing of law enforcement officers.
The Catholic Mobilizing Network, which advocates for an end to the death penalty, is urging lawmakers to reject Senate Bill 1751, introduced by Republican state Sen. Kevin Payne.
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the group's executive director, said the U.S. has seen "new and renewed execution methods that serve to provide alternatives to lethal injection."
"This development comes in part due to the difficulty in procuring lethal injection drugs as pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to sell their products for state-sanctioned death," Vaillancourt Murphy told The Center Square.
She said alternatives being considered include "the gas chamber and nitrogen gas asphyxiation," in addition to firing squads.
"It's hard not to look at these methods and think, 'How did we get here?'" Vaillancourt Murphy said. "And how does our society think this inhumanity is somehow acceptable? The reality is those are the questions we should ask ourselves each time there is an execution."
"The death penalty is contrary to human dignity and an affront to the sanctity of life," she continued, adding that the "system of capital punishment has become all the more deceptive to make executions appear more palatable, sterile and 'humane.'"
"Executions are never any of these things," Vaillancourt Murphy noted.
Payne's bill would allow death row inmates to choose a firing squad as a method of execution. It would also make a firing squad mandatory for people convicted of killing Arizona law enforcement.
The Republican state lawmaker argued the proposal is designed to ensure the state can carry out lawful sentences despite ongoing complications with lethal injection.
Juries in Arizona "impose the death penalty only in the most egregious cases after lengthy trials and appeals," he said.
"When a lawful sentence is handed down, the state has an obligation to carry it out," Payne said. "These reforms make sure justice is not indefinitely delayed because of drug shortages, legal obstacles or administrative uncertainty."
For the bill to become law, the Arizona Legislature would have to pass it. Then Arizona voters would have to vote on it in the next general election on Nov. 3.
Vaillancourt Murphy pointed to Mikal Mahdi, executed in 2025 in South Carolina after a 2004 crime spree that included the killing of an off-duty police officer.
NPR reported that the firing squad missed Mahdi's heart, with bullets damaging his liver and other organs; doctors reviewing the autopsy said the missed shots contributed to a prolonged death.
"This is a reminder that every execution — regardless of the method or the procedures that take place — is a violent act that disregards the dignity of life," she said.
"The only way to avoid the suffering of those being executed is to stop executing people altogether," she said.
Five states allow firing squads as an option: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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