Arkansas
Weird Laws in Arkansas: Which Are Still on the Books?
Independently fact-checked against primary sources (last audited October 21, 2026). · 1 primary source cited on this page. How we verify our legal content
Three of the five weird Arkansas claims we checked involve Little Rock, and one involves the state's own name. We checked five claims from popular lists against the Arkansas Code and, where a claim names a town, against that town's code, as of October 21, 2026. Four have something real behind them; the fifth turned up nothing. Our weird laws by state guide covers the rest of the country.
Weird laws in Arkansas: the verdicts
Each claim below was checked against the Arkansas code and, where it names a town, the local code. 5 claims checked.
The claim: Mispronouncing "Arkansas" is illegal.
What the law says: Ark. Code § 1-4-105 is a 1881 legislative resolution declaring the 'true' pronunciation (three syllables, silent final s, accent on first and last) and calling the other pronunciation 'an innovation to be discouraged.' It states no penalty and no enforcement mechanism, so saying it differently is not an offense.
“The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is an innovation to be discouraged.”
No court opinion in our database cites this section.
Primary source · Checked October 21, 2026.
The claim: Dogs may not bark after 6 p.m. in Little Rock.
What the law says: Little Rock City Code § 6-18 makes it unlawful to keep a dog that by loud and frequent barking and howling disturbs the reasonable peace and quiet of any person. There is no 6 p.m. cutoff; it applies at any hour and turns on disturbance. It is a city ordinance, not state law.
Primary source · Checked October 21, 2026.
The claim: Little Rock bans honking where cold drinks or sandwiches are sold after 9 p.m.
What the law says: Little Rock City Code § 18-54 says no person shall sound the horn on a vehicle at any place where cold drinks or sandwiches are served after 9:00 p.m. It is a current city ordinance (from the 1961 code), not state law, and the claim states it accurately.
Primary source · Checked October 21, 2026.
The claim: The Arkansas River may not rise above Little Rock's Main Street bridge.
What the law says: No Arkansas statute regulates how high the Arkansas River may rise or mentions a Main Street bridge limit. Floodplain rules are separate.
No state law found in the Arkansas code as of October 21, 2026.
How we searched
We searched the full text of the Arkansas Code for any rule on the Arkansas River, the Main Street bridge in Little Rock or river levels, read the floodplain-management and water-resources sections, and searched the Little Rock city code for the same terms.
Parts of the code read
- Arkansas Code Title 14, Chapter 268 (floodplain management)
- Arkansas Code Title 15, Chapter 22, Subchapter 2 (state water policy and water-resources powers)
The local code named in the claim was checked too.
Primary source · Checked October 21, 2026.
The claim: Fayetteville bans killing any living thing within city limits.
What the law says: Fayetteville City Code § 92.03 makes it unlawful to shoot, hunt, kill, chase, wound or molest any wild animal within the city limits. The claim exaggerates it: it covers wild animals only, not 'any living thing' (insects, plants, domestic animals are not covered by this section). It is a city ordinance, not state law.
Primary source · Checked October 21, 2026.
Checked October 21, 2026. This is legal history and information, not legal advice. Laws change; the linked official text is the authority.
How to say Arkansas, according to the legislature
There is a real law about pronouncing the state's name, but it is not a crime to get it wrong. Ark. Code § 1-4-105 is a legislative resolution from 1881 (Concurrent Resolution No. 4). It declares the true pronunciation: three syllables, the final s silent, the accent on the first and last syllables.
Section 1-4-105 then takes a side against the alternative:
The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is an innovation to be discouraged.
Discouraged is as far as it goes. The section states no penalty and no way to enforce it, so the claim that mispronouncing Arkansas is illegal reads a declaration as a prohibition.
Little Rock's horn rule, word for word
Some weird-law claims shrink when checked. This one does not. Little Rock City Code § 18-54 says no person shall sound the horn on a vehicle at any place where cold drinks or sandwiches are served after 9:00 p.m.
The section carries over from the city's 1961 code (Code 1961 § 25-74) and is current. It is a city ordinance, so it applies in Little Rock, not across Arkansas.
Barking dogs: no curfew, just a disturbance test
The barking-dog claim adds a clock that is not in the ordinance. Little Rock City Code § 6-18 makes it unlawful to keep a dog that, by loud and frequent barking and howling, disturbs the reasonable peace and quiet of any person.
There is no 6 p.m. cutoff. The rule applies at any hour, and the question is whether the barking disturbs someone's reasonable peace and quiet, not what time it is.
Fayetteville: wild animals, not every living thing
The claim that Fayetteville bans killing any living thing within city limits overstates a narrower rule. Fayetteville City Code § 92.03 makes it unlawful to shoot, hunt, kill, chase, wound or molest any wild animal within the city limits.
The section covers wild animals only. Insects, plants and domestic animals are outside it. The ordinance dates to 1992 (Ord. No. 3588) and was amended in 2007 (Ord. No. 5002).
The river that may not rise
One claim holds that the Arkansas River may not rise above Little Rock's Main Street bridge. No state law was found in the Arkansas code as of October 21, 2026 that regulates how high the river may rise or mentions a Main Street bridge limit.
We searched the full text of the Arkansas Code for the river, the bridge and river levels, and read the floodplain-management chapter (Title 14, Chapter 268) and the state water-resources subchapter (Title 15, Chapter 22, Subchapter 2). We also searched the Little Rock city code for the same terms and found nothing. Floodplain rules exist, but they are a separate subject.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it illegal to mispronounce Arkansas?
No. Ark. Code § 1-4-105, an 1881 legislative resolution, declares the true pronunciation (three syllables, silent final s, accent on the first and last syllables) and calls the other pronunciation an innovation to be discouraged. It states no penalty and no enforcement mechanism.
Is it illegal to honk your horn at a sandwich shop in Little Rock?
Little Rock City Code § 18-54 says no person shall sound the horn on a vehicle at any place where cold drinks or sandwiches are served after 9:00 p.m. It is a current city ordinance carried over from the 1961 code, not state law.
Can dogs bark after 6 p.m. in Little Rock?
Little Rock City Code § 6-18 has no 6 p.m. cutoff. It makes it unlawful to keep a dog that by loud and frequent barking and howling disturbs the reasonable peace and quiet of any person, at any hour.
Is it illegal to kill bugs in Fayetteville, Arkansas?
Fayetteville City Code § 92.03 covers wild animals: it bars shooting, hunting, killing, chasing, wounding or molesting any wild animal within the city limits. Insects, plants and domestic animals are not covered by this section.
What are some weird laws in Arkansas?
The claims we checked are a ban on mispronouncing Arkansas, a Little Rock ban on honking at sandwich shops after 9 p.m., a Little Rock dog-barking curfew, a Fayetteville ban on killing any living thing and a limit on how high the Arkansas River may rise. Only the honking rule matches its ordinance as stated.
Updates
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources
Sources and References
- Little Rock City Code § 18-54, Sounding of horns at sandwich shops (Municode, official city code host)(library.municode.com)
- Little Rock City Code § 6-18, Barking, howling (Municode, official city code host)(library.municode.com)
- Fayetteville City Code § 92.03, Shooting, killing or molesting wild animals prohibited (Municode, official city code host)(library.municode.com)
- Arkansas State Legislature, Arkansas Code(www.arkleg.state.ar.us).gov