Trayvon Case in Arkansas?

Under Florida law, a person who is attacked in any place where he or she has a right to be “has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force”. Shoot first, ask questions later. Stand your ground also has forms in other states. According to Legal Community Against Violence, 25 states — including every Southern state except Arkansas — have laws that generally allow the use of deadly force outside the home. Seven other states have laws allowing deadly force in specific locations away from home. Arkansas law allows a person to use deadly force in self-defense without the duty to retreat only in the person’s home or on the curtilage, defined as the land immediately surrounding the home. Away from the home and curtilage, a person in Arkansas “may not use deadly physical force in self defense if he or she knows that he or she can avoid the necessity of using deadly physical force with complete safety.” The protection for people who use deadly force on the curtilage was added by the Arkansas Legislature in 2007. Before then, the law permitted the use of deadly force in self defense only in the home.