Florida Republicans open door to firing squads, lethal gas as they push death penalty expansion

A bill filed in the Florida state Senate would expand the methods by which death row inmates could be executed. 

Senate Bill 1604, introduced by state Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, aims to protect Florida's status as a death penalty state if certain execution methods like electrocution or legal injection are made unconstitutional by the Supreme Court or the Florida Supreme Court, or if lethal injection drugs are unable to be obtained in the future.

There is currently a shortage of pentobarbital...