Ohio does not use the firing squad. Lethal injection is the only execution method authorized under Ohio law, no firing squad bill has been introduced in the legislature as of 2026, and the state has not carried out any execution since July 18, 2018. Governor Mike DeWine has called lethal injection “impossible from a practical point of view” and has said no executions will proceed until lawmakers approve a workable alternative.
What Ohio Law Authorizes
Ohio Revised Code 2949.22 requires that a death sentence be carried out by “a lethal injection of a drug or combination of drugs of sufficient dosage to quickly and painlessly cause death,” administered continuously until the person is dead.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 2949.22 – Method of Execution of Death Sentence There is no statutory authority for shooting, nitrogen gas, electrocution, or any other method.
The statute contains one narrow backup clause. If a court rules lethal injection itself unconstitutional, Ohio may use whatever alternative the legislature prescribes afterward. That clause has never been triggered, and it doesn’t cover Ohio’s actual problem, which is logistical rather than constitutional. The executive branch has no authority to change methods on its own, which is why the governor has pushed the question back to the legislature.
Why Executions Are Paused
The pause comes down to drug supply. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have refused to sell their products for use in executions, and Ohio has been unable to assemble a working lethal injection protocol as a result. The last person put to death in the state was Robert Van Hook on July 18, 2018. Every scheduled execution since then has been postponed or stayed.
Courts have continued to set execution dates anyway. Warrants extend through at least 2029, with three dates on the 2026 calendar.2Death Penalty Information Center. Upcoming Executions The governor has said these are essentially placeholders. In the meantime, 109 people remain on Ohio’s death row with no realistic timeline.3Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Death Row
What Ohio Lawmakers Have Actually Proposed
Despite public conversation about firing squads, no Ohio legislator has introduced a bill authorizing one. The legislative energy has gone in two other directions.
House Bill 36, pending in the 136th General Assembly, would amend ORC 2949.22 to add nitrogen gas as an authorized method. It remains in committee. Senate Bill 134 goes the opposite way: it would abolish Ohio’s death penalty entirely, eliminate capital sentencing, adjust jury challenge rules in cases capped at life imprisonment, and bar public funding for lethal injection drugs. It is also pending. The chamber is split between lawmakers who want a new way to carry out death sentences and lawmakers who want to end capital punishment altogether, and neither camp has the votes.
One clarification is worth making because the claim circulates online. An earlier version of the reporting on this topic referenced “House Bill 383” as an Ohio firing squad proposal. That bill number actually designates a highway in Belmont County and has nothing to do with executions.
Why the Firing Squad Keeps Coming Up
Ohio’s debate sits inside a national one. Five states currently authorize the firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.4Death Penalty Information Center. Department of Justice Releases Memo Calling for Expansion of Federal Death Penalty and New Methods Each got there differently, but the common driver is the same drug shortage that stalled Ohio.
Idaho went furthest in 2025, enacting a law that makes the firing squad the state’s primary method starting July 1, 2026, with lethal injection dropped to backup status. Construction of a dedicated chamber was initially budgeted at $750,000 and is now estimated above $950,000.5Death Penalty Information Center. Idaho Governor Signs Legislation Authorizing Firing Squad as States Primary Execution Method At the federal level, the Department of Justice in April 2026 directed the Bureau of Prisons to add the firing squad to its execution protocol and to study new facilities to accommodate the method.6U.S. Department of Justice. The Justice Department Takes Actions to Strengthen the Federal Death Penalty
South Carolina reinstated the method in 2021 and carried out its first firing squad execution on April 11, 2025. That execution drew immediate scrutiny. An autopsy of Mikal Mahdi showed only two bullet wounds, neither directly striking his heart, and a forensic pathologist concluded he likely experienced significant conscious pain for roughly 30 to 60 seconds after being shot.7NPR. A Firing Squad Tried to Shoot a Prisoners Heart They Missed Autopsy Indicates The South Carolina Supreme Court had upheld the method in 2024, reasoning that any pain would last “only ten to fifteen seconds” unless the shooters missed the heart.
What Would Have to Happen for Ohio to Adopt It
Two things. First, a bill authorizing the method would have to pass the Ohio legislature and be signed into law, because the governor cannot change execution methods by executive action under ORC 2949.22. No such bill exists.
Second, any new protocol would face Eighth Amendment litigation. The modern standard comes from Glossip v. Gross (2015), which set a two-part test: a prisoner challenging a method must show a demonstrated risk of severe pain, and must then identify a known and available alternative that substantially reduces that risk.8Justia. Glossip v Gross The alternative requirement is the hard part for prisoners, but the Mahdi autopsy gives opponents new factual material on the first prong. An Ohio firing squad statute would almost certainly draw a challenge that leans on that record.
Where Things Stand
Ohio’s death penalty is in a holding pattern. Courts keep setting dates. The governor keeps saying those dates are meaningless without a workable method. The legislature has nitrogen gas on one side of the ledger and full abolition on the other, and neither has moved. The firing squad is not on the table in Columbus, even as it moves onto the books in other states. Anyone tracking this issue should watch HB 36 and SB 134 rather than a firing squad proposal that has not been filed.