For example, an armed robber cannot shoot someone during the robbery and then claim they were defending themselves. Arkansas While Arkansas currently has no Stand-your-ground laws in effect and instead enforces a duty to retreat, that may soon change. (Ark. that has been dismissed and sealed under the process at Ark. The Republican-led measure, SB24, would allow an armed. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council. This law does not mean that you can use deadly force whenever and wherever you want to. An "acceptable electronic format" means an electronic image produced on the person's own cellular phone or other type of portable electronic device that displays all of the information on a concealed handgun license as clearly as the original concealed handgun license. Read our guide to the General Assembly.). With that phrasing, English common law reinvented the Castle Doctrine, the concept that one may be safe and protect one's home. (2) However, the person may not use deadly physical force except as provided in 5-2-607. (a) A person is justified in using deadly physical force upon another person if the person reasonably believes that the other person is: (1) Committing or about to commit a felony involving physical force or violence; (2) Using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force; or, (3) Imminently endangering the persons life or imminently about. (Staton Breidenthal/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP, File), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. The licensee must carry the license, or an electronic copy of the license in an "acceptable electronic format," together with valid identification, at any time when the licensee is carrying a concealed handgun. The 277 vote in the Senate for the bill on January 19, 2021, largely split along party lines, with all, voting against it and all Republicans supporting it, save Jim Hendren, who later left the Republican Party. A number of new laws took effect Wednesday in Arkansas. Skip Navigation Share on Facebook Despitethe fact that Zimmermandisobeyed the request of authorities that Zimmerman not follow Martin, as well asinitiated the conflict with Martin, police in Sanford, Florida, initially refused to charge Zimmerman with any crime, citing the states stand-your-ground law. LITTLE ROCK - The Senate passed legislation known as the "Stand Your Ground" bill, which would allow someone to use deadly force to defend themselves against an aggressor. Watch on. Asa Hutchinson signed a 'Stand Your Ground' bill into law on Wednesday afternoon despite past concerns that he raised regarding the measure. It passed by a vote of 19-to-9, with seven senators not voting. (B) However, the pregnant woman is not obligated to retreat or surrender possession of property as described in 5-2-607(b) unless the pregnant woman knows she can avoid the necessity of using deadly physical force and simultaneously ensure the complete safety of her unborn child. 2.22.2022 Shoot First lawsalso known as Stand Your Ground legislationare deadly, reckless, and extreme. The bills sponsor said that it would be amended to address concerns of affected parties. (1) Common carrier means any vehicle used to transport for hire any member of the public; (2) Deadly physical force means physical force that under the circumstances in which it is used is readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury; (3) Dwelling means an enclosed space that is used or intended to be used as a human habitation, home, or residence on a temporary or permanent basis; (4) Minor means any person under eighteen (18) years of age; (A) Occupiable structure means a vehicle, building, or other structure: (i) Where any person lives or carries on a business or other calling; (ii) Where people assemble for a purpose of business, government, education, religion, entertainment, or public transportation; or. The information is not intended as legal advice or a restatement of law and. Almost always, police and prosecutors will err on the side of caution. "Stand Your Ground" policy removes a duty to retreat before a would-be victim can use deadly force to defend against the imminent threat of death or great bodily injury. Updated: Feb 23, 2021 / 08:57 PM CST. Read our guide to the General Assembly.) International & United Nations Gun Control, Micro-Stamping | Ballistic "Fingerprinting", Second Amendment & Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Women On Target Instructional Shooting Clinics, Volunteer At The Great American Outdoor Show, Marion P. Hammer Women Of Distinction Award, Women's Wildlife Management / Conservation Scholarship, National Youth Shooting Sports Cooperative Program, http://www.asp.state.ar.us/divisions/rs/rs_chl_law.html#rec, https://opinions.arcourts.gov/ark/courtofappeals/en/346005/1/document.do, https://static.ark.org/eeuploads/asp/PP_Table_11_30_17a.pdf, https://ccresourcecenter.org/restoration/, Arkansas: 2023 Legislative Session Convenes Today, Arkansas: Legislature Convenes for its 2022 Fiscal Session, These 12 Incidents of Defensive Gun Use Prove Armed Civilians Make Situations Safer, Arkansas: Self-Defense Clarification Legislation Heads Back to the Senate for Concurrence Vote, Arkansas: House Committee Passes Self-Defense Clarification Bill, Arkansas: Hearing for Self-Defense Clarification Legislation Delayed Until Tomorrow, Arkansas: House Committee to Consider Self-Defense Clarification Measure, NRA-backed Stand Your Ground Becomes Law in Arkansas, Arkansas: Stand Your Ground Legislation Sent to the Governors Desk for Signature. Arkansas statutes are silent on antique and replica firearms. Online athttps://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/feb/23/stand-your-ground-bill-passes-house-committee-2nd-/ (accessed June 5, 2021). Following a more than three-hour long debate, members of the House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday (Feb. 2) against SB 24 - a proposal to end the duty to retreat. Arkansas Code 5-2-607 is amended to read as follows: 22 5-2-607. . 18, 92d Gen. When Stand Your Ground Law Applies. Code 002.00.1-05.06. Code 5-73-120(a) makes it a crime to carry a handgun, knife, or club on or about the person or in a vehicle 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.. (AP) The Arkansas Senate on Tuesday passed legislation easing restrictions on the use of deadly force in self-defense, sending the measure to the House. The House Judiciary Committee was scheduled to consider self-defense expansion legislation, Senate Bill 573, last week. , the sponsor of the 2019 bill,filed SB 24, which stipulated that: A person is justified in using physical force upon another person to defend himself or herself or a third person from what the person reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful physical force by that other person, and the person may use a degree of physical force that he or she reasonably believes to be necessary. The bill did specify that the person was only permitted to use physical forcewhilelawfully present in thelocation in question and generally not engaged in any criminal activity. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) counted 25 as of May 26, 2020. A sport shooting range means an area designed and operated for the use of rifles, shotguns, pistols, silhouettes, skeet, trap, black powder, or any other similar sport shooting. Arkansas: Stand Your Ground Legislation Could be Heard as Early as Tomorrow! It's very important to remember that stand your ground and castle doctrine laws vary from state to state. As public pressure built, igniting the movement that came to be known asBlack Lives Matter, prosecutors finally charged Zimmerman, but a jury ended up acquitting him of any crime. State Capitol Building500 Woodlane StreetSuite 320Little Rock, Arkansas72201-1090, State Capitol Building500 Woodlane Street, Suite 320Little Rock, Arkansas 72201-1090, In Session: 501-682-2902Out of Session: 501-682-6107. Arkansas has long been a state with reliable self-defense laws that definitively assert citizens right to defend themselves and others against the unlawful use of force. The most recent was signed into law by Ohios governor earlier this year. 100 Rock Street The Senate approved the measure, Senate Bill 24, on a vote of 27-to-7, with one senator not voting. Such laws, often called shoot first laws by their critics, have been highly controversial, being linked in some studies to increased murder rates inthose states that passed them. OnMarch3, 2021, GovernorAsa Hutchinsonsigned into lawAct 250,a so-called stand-your-ground bill. It is unlawful to refuse or to fail to immediately surrender for inspection any weapon on request of a wildlife officer or other person authorized to enforce regulations of the (game) Commission. Licensees without a license endorsement and others cannot carry a concealed handgun into any of the places listed in Ark. What the hell are yougonnado, shoot me? Video of Flowerss remarks went viral, being viewed millions of times online, and received responses from,among others, Senator Kamala Harris of California, who was elected vice presidentof the United Statesin 2020. Each of Arkansass neighboring states passed such legislation years beforeArkansasdid. A person may use force to defend their property, but not deadly force, unless such property is their home.Under certain circumstances, a person may use deadly force to protect their home under. 1013 and S. Res. STATE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION -- Article 2, Section 5. Some conservative lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to loosen the restrictions even further by expanding where lethal force could be used in self defense. Arkansas: Stand Your Ground Legislation Sent to the Governor's Desk for Signature Today, the Arkansas House marked the final vote on Stand Your ground Legislation, Senate Bill 24.. The following day, the full House passed the bill, sending it on to Governor Hutchinson. Under Ark. Citizens in Arkansas may use force to protect themselves from any threat, or to protect someone else, so long as the force used is reasonable and proportional to the threat they are facing, but includes deadly force if required. At least 28 states have Stand your Ground laws, according to the Giffords Center to Prevent Gun Violence. One exception to the preemption statute allows ordinances regulating or forbidding the unsafe discharge of a firearm. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (iStockphoto) A "stand your ground" law states that a person may use deadly force in self-defense without the duty to . Code Ann. YOU MUST ABIDE WITH ALL LAWS: STATE, FEDERAL AND LOCAL. (2) Unborn child means the offspring of human beings from conception until birth. A stand-your-ground law (sometimes called "line in the sand" or "no duty to retreat" law) provides that people may use deadly force when they reasonably believe it to be necessary to defend against certain violent crimes (right of self-defense).Under such a law, people have no duty to retreat before using deadly force in self-defense, so long as they are in a place where they are lawfully present. We cant really know yet. (b) A person is not required to retreat before using deadly physical force if the person: (1) Is lawfully present at the location where deadly physical force is used; (2) Has a reasonable belief that the person against whom the deadly physical force is used is imminently threatening to cause death or serious physical injury to the person or another person; (3) Except as provided under 5-2-606(b)(2)(B), is not the initial aggressor and has not provoked the person against whom the deadly physical force is used; (4) Is not committing a felony offense of possession of a firearm by certain persons, 5-73-103, with the firearm used to employ the deadly physical force, unless the person is in or at the persons dwelling or in the curtilage surrounding the persons dwelling; (5) Is not engaged in criminal activity that gives rise to the need for the use of deadly physical force at the time the deadly physical force is used; and. 1B, 6B. Similarly, if the would-be defender is the initial aggressor or antagonist in the encounter self-defense may not be claimed and the use of force will not be ruled justified unless they first make a good faith effort to withdraw from the encounter and stated their intention to do so to the other party, and the other party then continues pressing the encounter for the initial antagonist to be able to claim self-defense. Possession or ownership of any firearm is unlawful for any person who has been: It is unlawful to sell, give, rent, or otherwise furnish a firearm to a person under 18 without the consent of a parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the general supervision of the minors welfare. What does stand your ground" mean? Scott Bradley, the executive director of the Arkansas Sheriffs Association, was quoted in theArkansas Democrat-Gazetteas saying, HB1059 would encourage individuals to take matters into their own hands rather than avoid confrontation, resulting in many of our citizens being hurt or possibly killed.During debate on the bill in committee, Senator Stephanie Flowers ofPine Bluff (Jefferson County),a Blackwoman, began to speak passionately about the effects of gun violence on theBlack community, using several profanities, and when Senator Alan Clark ofLonsdale (Garland County)told her that she needed to stop, she replied, No, I dont. A castle doctrine, also known as a castle law or a defense of habitation law, is a legal doctrine that designates a person's abode or any legally occupied place (for example, a vehicle or home) as a place in which that person has protections and immunities permitting one, in certain circumstances, to use force (up to and including deadly force) to defend oneself against an intruder, free from . Today, January 9th, the Arkansas State Legislature begins the 2023 legislative session. Stand-Your-Ground Laws: For a Man's House is His Castle. Online athttps://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/feb/22/review-looks-at-states-rates-of-gun-deaths/ (accessed June 5, 2021). (B) However, a person is not required to retreat if the person is: (i) Unable to retreat with complete safety; (ii) In the persons dwelling or on the curtilage surrounding the persons dwelling and was not the original aggressor; or, (iii) A law enforcement officer or a person assisting at the direction of a law enforcement officer; or. Asa Hutchinson signed a "Stand Your Ground" bill into law Wednesday (March 3) despite his belief that it's not necessary, but he hopes the Legislature also will pass a hate crimes bill as a complementary measure. Republicanlegislators in Arkansas attempted to pass a stand-your-ground law in 2019, but the bill (HB 1059) met opposition from the Arkansas Sheriffs Associationand the Arkansas Prosecutors Association. The legislation, SB24, referred to as a "Stand Your Ground" bill passed the House and Senate earlier this year after being reworked. Asa Hutchinson never formally took a stance on the measure in 2019, but said at the time that he was "hesitant" to change the state's existing self-defense laws. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. With time, the definition of our "home" expanded into the space around us . This self-defense law states the following: "A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that threat or force is necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person . told her that she needed to stop, she replied, No, I dont. Code 5-73-120(a). As reporter John Moritz summarized it, The amendment would have allowed someone with a gun who was illegally trespassing in an area where guns are prohibited to use their weapon inself defense, as long as they were not in the process of committing a more serious felony. The amendment was opposed by state prosecutors, but the change appeased the Gun Owners of Arkansas, and the bill passed out of committee on February 23, 2021. Technically, there is no stand your ground law in Arkansas. The Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor endorsed SB 99, which would regulate step therapy protocols. (c) A person who subsequently acquires title to or who owns real property adversely affected by the use of property with a permanently located sport shooting range shall not maintain a nuisance action against the person who owns the range to restrain, enjoin, or impede the use of the range unless there has been a substantial change in the nature of the use of the range or by a person using the range. This may not be reproduced for commercial purposes. (2) With complete safety by surrendering possession of property to a person claiming a lawful right to possession of the property. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: SECTION 1. A majority of states in the U.S. are stand your ground states. State law prohibits carrying a handgun with the ", purpose to attempt to unlawfully employ the handgun as a weapon against a person;" Ark. However, the proposed hate crimes bill failed to make it out of committee. The stand your ground law in Tennessee allows you to use deadly force as a form of self-defense when you feel you are in immediate danger of serious harm or death, according to News Channel 5.