Gun laws in Arkansas regulate the sale, possession, and use of

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s and

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

in the state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

in the United States.

Summary table

Arkansas gun laws

Automatic weapons must be registered with the Arkansas secretary of state, in addition to being registered under federal law. Some counties have adopted

Second Amendment sanctuary Second Amendment sanctuary, also known as a gun sanctuary, refers to states, counties, or localities in the United States that have adopted laws or resolutions to prohibit or impede the enforcement of certain gun control measures which are perc ...

resolutions and a statewide law was adopted on April 29, 2021.

Open and Concealed Carry

As of August 16, 2013 permits are no longer required to concealed carry a handgun. However, there was some confusion over the legality of permitless carry in Arkansas. For concealed carry, Arkansas still offers CCW permits on a "shall issue" basis. Open carry of handguns is legal by a simple reading of the law, yet some Arkansas states officials denied that it was legal. Applicants must pass a background check and complete a training course to receive a new or renewal concealed carry license. An existing license is suspended or revoked if the license holder is arrested for a felony or for any violent act, becomes ineligible due to mental health treatment, or for a number of other reasons. Concealed firearms may not be carried in a courthouse, meeting place of any government entity, athletic event, places of higher education, or in a number of other places. On October 17, 2018, the

Arkansas Court of Appeals The Arkansas Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court for the state of Arkansas. It was created in 1978 by Amendment 58 of the Arkansas Constitution, which was implemented by Act 208 of the Arkansas General Assembly in 1979. The court ...

issued a ruling that clarified that the mere carrying of a handgun is not a crime by itself absent a purpose to attempt to unlawfully employ the handgun as a weapon against a person, and any ambiguity would be found in favor of the defendant per the

rule of lenity The rule of lenity, also called the rule of strict construction, is a principle of criminal statutory interpretation that requires that when a law is unclear or ambiguous, a court must apply the law in the manner that is most favorable to the de ...

. This effectively ends the dispute on the legality of permitless carry in Arkansas. Allowing for both open and concealed carry without a permit in Arkansas.

Act 746

Amended portion Ar statute 5-73-120: Description of "carrying a weapon" as seen from a legal standpoint. "A person commits the offense of carrying a weapon if he or she possesses a handgun, knife, or club on or about his or her person, in a vehicle occupied by him or her, or otherwise readily available for use with a purpose to attempt to unlawfully employ the handgun, knife, or club as a weapon against a person." The Act's subsections go on to describe the specific circumstances in which one may legally carry that weapon. Though the language in some of Act 746 had created confusion over the legalities of open and concealed carry without a permit with some state officials and law enforcement it has since been amended to correct these confusions and goes on to describe the specific instances and places where it is legal to carry a weapon. Background on the confusion that surrounded Act 746: While constitutional gun rights advocates and most law enforcement agencies have tried to argue that Act 746 legalizes open and concealed carry in Arkansas without a permit, Attorney General

Dustin McDaniel Dustin Blake McDaniel (born April 29, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th Attorney General of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he a founding partner of the Little Rock, Arkansas law firm ...

at the time, issued a non-binding opinion on July 8, 2013 stating that Act 746 applies only to persons who are carrying firearms while "on a journey across or through Arkansas," that open carry remains illegal and that a valid permit is still required for concealed carry for those who are not traveling across Arkansas. In his opinion written to State Senator Eddie Joe Williams, Attorney General McDaniel defined a journey as "travel beyond one's county of residence," but further stated it would be ultimately up to the discretion of law enforcement officials and county prosecutors as to whether or not persons carrying without a valid permit would be arrested and prosecuted. In August 2015, Attorney General

Leslie Rutledge Leslie Carol Rutledge (born June 9, 1976) is an American attorney and politician from the state of Arkansas, served as the 56th attorney general of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023. She is the 21st lieutenant governor of Arkansas, since 2023. Rutledge ...

issued a non-binding opinion that open carry is legal while not affecting concealed carry, and that a concealed carry license is still required: Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has also stated that open carry may generate reasonable suspicion for an officer to stop and briefly detain a person. Despite these non-binding opinions, most local courts have thrown out or dropped the charges on carrying a weapon. One case was ruled guilty in a lower court in Bald Knob. The defendant appealed and the court dismissed the case potentially setting a precedent that open carry is legal. Regardless of what some state or law enforcement officials' views are on Act 746, most agencies and citizens agree with sponsors of the Act, that Arkansas is a

constitutional carry In the United States, the term constitutional carry, also called permitless carry, unrestricted carry, or Vermont carry, refers to the legal public carrying of a handgun, either openly or concealed, without a license or permit. The phrase does ...

state.

References

{{Gun laws in the United States (by state) Arkansas law