Tasers and stun guns are legal to own and carry in Arkansas for anyone over the age of eighteen, with no permit, license, background check, or registration required. The only age restriction appears in Arkansas Code § 5-73-133, which prohibits anyone eighteen or under from buying or possessing a taser stun gun.1Justia. Arkansas Code 5-73-133 – Possession of a Taser Stun Gun Beyond that cutoff, the rules that matter are about where you carry one and when you use it.
Who Can Own a Taser
Any Arkansas resident over eighteen can walk into a store, buy a taser, and carry it. The statute’s phrasing — “eighteen years of age or under” — means you must be at least nineteen to legally possess one.1Justia. Arkansas Code 5-73-133 – Possession of a Taser Stun Gun No concealed carry license is needed. Arkansas’s weapon-carry statute, § 5-73-120, covers handguns, knives, and clubs. Tasers aren’t on that list.2Justia. Arkansas Code 5-73-120 – Carrying a Weapon
There is no taser-specific restriction tied to criminal history or mental health. Arkansas’s felon-in-possession laws target firearms. One caveat for anyone with a felony record: Arkansas defines a “deadly weapon” as anything that, in the way it’s used, is “capable of causing death or serious physical injury.”3Justia. Arkansas Code 5-1-102 – Definitions A prosecutor could argue a taser qualifies under certain facts, so the clear path for felons is not automatic in every scenario.
When You Can Legally Use One
Arkansas permits the use of physical force in self-defense when you reasonably believe it’s necessary to protect yourself or another person from unlawful physical force, in the degree the situation reasonably requires.4Justia. Arkansas Code 5-2-606 – Use of Physical Force in Defense of a Person Firing a taser at a genuine attacker fits inside that rule.
The complication is the line between non-deadly and deadly force. Deadly physical force is defined as force “readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury.”5Justia. Arkansas Code 5-2-601 – Definitions A taser used once on a healthy adult is generally treated as non-deadly force. Using one on someone with a known heart condition, or discharging it repeatedly on a person who is already restrained, can push the act into the deadly-force category. That matters, because deadly force is only legally justified when you reasonably believe the other person is committing a violent felony, using deadly force against you, or imminently threatening your life.6Justia. Arkansas Code 5-2-607 – Use of Deadly Physical Force in Defense of a Person
Using a taser to intimidate, to settle an argument, or when no real threat is present is not self-defense. It opens you to assault or battery charges. Discomfort is not the legal standard; reasonable belief in imminent physical harm is.
Where You Can’t Carry One
Arkansas’s location-based weapon restrictions were mostly written with firearms in mind, which leaves taser owners working through some ambiguity.
Government Buildings and the State Capitol
Arkansas Code § 5-73-122 makes it unlawful to carry “a loaded firearm or other deadly weapon” in any publicly owned building or facility, or on the State Capitol grounds.7Justia. Arkansas Code 5-73-122 – Carrying a Firearm in Publicly Owned Buildings or Facilities “Other deadly weapon” is the operative phrase. Because the deadly weapon definition is use-based and broad, a taser can fall under this prohibition. The practical answer is to leave the device in your vehicle before entering courthouses, government offices, or the Capitol complex. A violation is a Class C misdemeanor.
Schools
Arkansas’s school-weapon statute, § 5-73-119, prohibits firearms on school grounds, school buses, and designated bus stops. The restricted items are defined as firearms, not electronic weapons.8Justia. Arkansas Code 5-73-119 – Handguns – Possession by Minor or Possession on School Property That said, individual districts almost always ban tasers under their own conduct policies, and a prosecutor could still try to charge a taser on campus under the general deadly weapon framework. Bringing one onto school property is a bad idea regardless of what the statute literally lists.
Airports
Federal TSA rules bar tasers and stun guns from carry-on bags at security checkpoints. They are permitted in checked baggage if packed to prevent accidental discharge.9Transportation Security Administration. Stun Guns/Shocking Devices
Private Property
A business owner or private property holder can ask you to leave because of a taser, and if you refuse they can enforce trespass laws. The right to own one doesn’t override someone else’s control of their property.
Penalties
- A person eighteen or under who buys or possesses a taser commits an unclassified misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $500 to $1,000.1Justia. Arkansas Code 5-73-133 – Possession of a Taser Stun Gun
- Selling or giving a taser to a minor is a Class B felony, carrying five to twenty years in prison.1Justia. Arkansas Code 5-73-133 – Possession of a Taser Stun Gun10Justia. Arkansas Code 5-4-401 – Sentence
- Carrying a taser into a publicly owned building, if treated as a deadly weapon under § 5-73-122, is a Class C misdemeanor.7Justia. Arkansas Code 5-73-122 – Carrying a Firearm in Publicly Owned Buildings or Facilities
- Using a taser against another person outside self-defense can lead to assault or battery charges, from misdemeanor assault for minor injuries up to felony battery for serious physical harm.
The sharpest contrast in the statute sits between the fine for underage possession and the twenty-year ceiling for the adult who supplied the device. Arkansas puts the heavier burden on that adult by a wide margin.