Shotgun, pistol or carbine: how to choose for the house you live in, and what Arkansas law says about using force at home.
A farmhouse at the end of a county road outside Lonoke, where a deputy may be twenty-five minutes away, is a different problem from a duplex in Hillcrest with neighbors through the wall. Start with your floor plan, who sleeps where, and what is on the other side of each wall. Then pick the gun.
| Option | Suits | Trade-off |
| Pump or semi-auto shotgun | A house where you would hold one position, such as the top of a hall | Most effect per shot at room distance and the lowest price. Long, heavy-recoiling, and slow to reload. |
| Full-size pistol | Anyone who may need a hand free for a child, a phone or a light switch | Fits a bedside quick-access safe and moves through doorways easily. Takes the most practice to shoot well. |
| Carbine | People who already train with one | Least recoil, easiest to hit with, most rounds on board. Very loud indoors, and rifle bullets carry a long way. |
Half the households in this state already own a 12 gauge. A defensive shotgun differs from a field gun in three ways: an 18 to 20 inch barrel, a load of buckshot, and a light mounted on it. With a No. 1 or 00 buckshot load it ends a fight across a room more reliably than anything else here. The costs are real. It needs two hands, recoil is stiff, and it holds five to eight rounds that reload one at a time. A 20 gauge is a serious alternative for anyone who finds a 12 punishing.
A full-size 9mm holds 15 to 17 rounds, fits a quick-access safe on the nightstand, and leaves a hand free to open a door, carry a toddler or hold a phone to your ear. It can also go with you when you leave the house, as Arkansas requires no licence to carry. The price is skill. A handgun is the hardest firearm to shoot well under stress, and it rewards regular practice more than the others do.
An AR-pattern carbine has mild recoil, a long sight radius or an optic, and 30 rounds in a standard magazine. Arkansas places no limit on magazine capacity or rifle features. It is the easiest of the three to hit with. Indoors the blast is punishing, and the bullet will carry a long way if it misses. In open farm country that may matter less; in a subdivision it matters a great deal. Loads designed to fragment help, but they do not remove the risk.
Justification is set out in Title 5, Chapter 2 of the Arkansas Code. Ark. Code 5-2-607 covers deadly physical force in defense of a person: broadly, it is justified when you reasonably believe the other person is committing or about to commit a violent felony, or is using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force. Ark. Code 5-2-620 deals with force used to defend people and property within a home and creates a legal presumption in favor of the occupant in certain situations.
Act 250 of 2021 removed the general duty to retreat. It applies only when the person is lawfully present at the location, is not the initial aggressor, is not a person barred from possessing a firearm, and is not using the force to further criminal activity, along with the other conditions in the statute. Inside your own home there was already no duty to retreat. None of these sections permits deadly force simply to protect property, and what a prosecutor or jury finds "reasonable" depends on the facts.
General information, not legal advice. Read Ark. Code 5-2-601 through 5-2-621 in the current code and talk to an Arkansas attorney. If you ever have to use a firearm in defense, call 911, ask for medical help, and ask for a lawyer before giving a detailed statement.
No permit, registration or waiting period applies in Arkansas. Order here, name a licensed dealer near you, and complete ATF Form 4473 and the NICS check when you pick the gun up. Buyers must be 18 for a shotgun or rifle and 21 for a handgun from a dealer. Defensive ammunition, lights and safes ship straight to your door. How shipping and transfers work.
The one that fits your house and that you will practice with. A 12-gauge pump is decisive and affordable, a full-size 9mm pistol is the easiest to store safely and keep at hand, and a carbine is the easiest to shoot accurately. Any of the three works in trained hands and none of them works well untrained.
Yes, with some thought. A 28-inch waterfowl barrel is awkward in a hallway, and steel birdshot is a poor defensive load. Many pump and semi-auto models accept a shorter 18 to 20 inch barrel that swaps on in a minute. Take out the three-shell plug for home use, load buckshot, and put the plug back before duck season.
Arkansas law justifies deadly physical force in defined circumstances (Ark. Code 5-2-607) and has a specific section on defending people and property inside a home (Ark. Code 5-2-620). The details decide real cases, so treat this as general information and not legal advice.
Since Act 250 of 2021, a person has no duty to retreat before using deadly physical force if they are lawfully present, have a reasonable belief they face an imminent threat of death or serious injury, are not the initial aggressor, and are not barred from possessing a firearm, among other conditions in Ark. Code 5-2-607. Each condition matters. Read the statute.
No. Arkansas requires no permit, licence or registration to buy or keep a firearm at home. The only people barred are those prohibited by Ark. Code 5-73-103 or federal law.
Arkansas has no general statute dictating how adults store firearms at home. Leaving a loaded gun where a child or a prohibited person can reach it can still bring criminal charges under other statutes and civil liability if someone is hurt. A quick-access safe costs less than a case of ammunition.
Buckshot, pistol bullets and rifle bullets all pass through interior drywall. In a frame house or a mobile home they can leave the building. Know what lies beyond each direction you might fire, especially bedrooms and the neighbors, and choose a load built for defense and not for hunting.
Yes. At room distances a 20-gauge buckshot load is fully adequate and its lighter recoil means faster, more accurate follow-up shots for many people. A gun that fits and gets practiced with beats a 12 gauge that stays in the closet.