LITTLE ROCK -- An investigator with the Arkansas attorney general's office accidentally shot himself in the back outside a Little Rock restaurant Friday evening, police said Saturday.

A report from Little Rock police said Stephen Svetz, 58, was outside South on Main, 1304 Main St., at 5 p.m. and was trying to remove his gun from its holster to put it in his car when the gun fired and a bullet hit Svetz in the lower back. Svetz was transported to CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock with an injury that wasn't life-threatening.

Judd Deere, spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, said Svetz was released from the hospital Saturday.

Svetz works as an investigator with the consumer protection division of the attorney general's office. Deere said Svetz has a state-issued firearm, but the gun that discharged Friday was Svetz's personal gun.

Deere said the attorney general's office is looking into Friday's events, and he could not comment further.

Last month, Rutledge released an opinion stating law-abiding Arkansans are free to carry or possess their weapons on themselves or in their vehicles without fear of prosecution as long as they are not in a place where it is prohibited by law and they do not have an intent to "unlawfully" use the weapon.

Rutledge's opinion on the matter had been requested in early June by three legislators who wanted clarification on whether changes to the state's weapon-carry statute in 2013 made Arkansas an "open-carry" state -- one that allows residents to openly carry firearms without a license.

Rutledge noted in her opinion changes to state law do not give owners the right to openly carry weapons in places where firearms are already prohibited by law, including publicly owned buildings such as schools and city halls. Private-property owners also have the right to bar weapons.

NW News on 09/08/2015