H37 designates execution by firing squad as the primary method of administering the death penalty.

The Senate passed H37 on March 5, 2025, by a vote of 28 to 7. We have assigned pluses to the ayes because the firing squad is a quick, readily available, and cost-effective means of carrying out the death penalty, making it a better deterrent to capital crimes than lethal injection. Importantly, the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment makes mention of “capital” crimes, as justice is the overall purpose of government and certain “infamous” or heinous acts (e.g., murder or rape), demand the death penalty. Criminal codes before and during the time of the American Founding, such as the 1641 Laws of New England, confirm that no one should be allowed to violate the personhood of another or shed innocent blood, for mankind was created in the image of God. Thus, the “due process” and “equal protection” requirements in the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment justly follow the Common Law retributive principle that “the punishment should fit the crime.”