Columbia, South Carolina – The South Carolina House on Wednesday voted 66-43 to include a firing squad in the state's list of approved execution methods.

The state legislature's decision is motivated by a lack of drugs needed to carry out lethal injections, The Associated Press reported. South Carolina is one of 24 states where capital punishment is legal, but the state has not held an execution since 2011.

If enacted, the bill would require death-row inmates to choose between death by firing squad or by electric chair if lethal injection drugs aren't available. Currently, South Carolina is one of only nine states that still uses the electric chair and would be only one of four to allow firing squads.

Republican state Rep. Weston Newton said the decision was all about supporting victims' loved ones: "Those families of victims to these capital crimes are unable to get any closure because we are caught in this limbo stage where every potential appeal has been exhausted and the legally imposed sentences cannot be carried out."

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There are currently three death-row inmates in the state who are out of appeals.

Democratic state Rep. Justin Bamberg argued, "Three living, breathing human beings with a heartbeat that this bill is aimed at killing. If you push the green button at the end of the day and vote to pass this bill out of this body, you may as well be throwing the switch yourself."

All amendments proposed by Democrats were shot down, including proposals to exempt current inmates from the new rules, share live streams of the executions, make lawmakers watch executions, and ban the death penalty completely.

The Senate already voted 32-11 in favor of the bill in March. If the Senate votes to approve the House's minor amendments, the bill will be sent to Republican Governor Henry McMaster, who has said he will sign it into law.