---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO CLARIFY THE SCOPE IN WHICH A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER MAY CARRY AN OPEN OR CONCEALED HANDGUN BOTH WHILE ON DUTY AND OFF DUTY; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
description: "TO CLARIFY THE SCOPE IN WHICH A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER MAY CARRY AN OPEN OR CONCEALED HANDGUN BOTH WHILE ON DUTY AND OFF DUTY; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 197"
citation: "Arkansas SB 197 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. Ballinger"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 29
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-01-29"
last_action: "2019-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/71da1bad-8499-4e31-a67b-fceb00fe2ec2"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "0a16bde58d7a6fa2bcae49f9bde97b1ae29bd83319c3e84ffe7aa4d74490d41b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ar"]
---

# Arkansas SB 197 (2019) — TO CLARIFY THE SCOPE IN WHICH A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER MAY CARRY AN OPEN OR CONCEALED HANDGUN BOTH WHILE ON DUTY AND OFF DUTY; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/Document?type=pdf&chamber=&source=Amendments&bill=SB197-S1&ddBienniumSession=2019%2F2019R)
2. **SB 197** (committee substitute) — [source](ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/2019R/Public/Searchable/SB197.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **76–9** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **26–5** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- B. Ballinger — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-01-29** Filed `introduction`
- **2019-01-29** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to CITY, COUNTY & LOCAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2019-02-06** Withdrawn from Committee for purpose of amendment # 1
- **2019-02-06** Amendment # 1 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2019-02-06** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2019-02-06** Re-referred to CITY, COUNTY & LOCAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE - SENATE `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-07** Withdrawn from Committee for purpose of amendment # 2
- **2019-02-07** Amendment # 2 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2019-02-07** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2019-02-07** Re-referred to CITY, COUNTY & LOCAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE - SENATE `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-14** Withdrawn from Committee for purpose of amendment # 3
- **2019-02-14** Amendment # 3 read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and adopted, ordered engrossed.
- **2019-02-14** REPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
- **2019-02-14** Re-referred to CITY, COUNTY & LOCAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE - SENATE `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-19** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-02-21** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-21** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2019-02-21** Ordered immediately transmitted to the House.
- **2019-02-21** RECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
- **2019-02-21** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on JUDICIARY COMMITTEE- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-12** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2019-03-13** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-03-13** EMERGENCY CLAUSE ADOPTED
- **2019-03-13** Returned To the Senate as passed.
- **2019-03-13** Returned from the House as passed.
- **2019-03-13** ORDERED ENROLLED
- **2019-03-14** Reported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
- **2019-03-14** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR. `executive-receipt`
- **2019-03-18** Notification that SB197 is now Act 472 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/71da1bad-8499-4e31-a67b-fceb00fe2ec2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).