Map Shows States Where Firing Squad Executions Are Legal Amid Trump Move
Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of the Fort Hood shooter. It would be the fourth in the country since March 2025.
President Donald Trump has directed the execution of Nidal Hasan via firing squad, marking the first use of this method since 1961. Hasan, a former U.S. Army psychiatrist, was sentenced to death for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that left 13 soldiers dead. The decision was endorsed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the president himself.
Though firing squads have been used six times since 1977, Trump reintroduced it in April as an alternative to lethal injection amid concerns over its use. Only five states—Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah—currently permit firing squad executions. In these states, inmates are restrained and shot by a group of anonymous volunteers. Hasan's execution is set to be the first of a U.S. soldier in over six decades.
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