diff --git a/src/asm/symbol.c b/src/asm/symbol.c
index 45bbb967..f1f622dd 100644
--- a/src/asm/symbol.c
+++ b/src/asm/symbol.c
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ void sym_ForEach(void (*func)(struct Symbol *, void *), void *arg)
 
 static int32_t Callback_NARG(void)
 {
+	if (!macro_GetCurrentArgs()) {
+		yyerror("_NARG does not make sense outside of a macro");
+		return 0;
+	}
 	return macro_NbArgs();
 }
 
diff --git a/test/asm/narg-nosect.asm b/test/asm/narg-nosect.asm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..54099434
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/asm/narg-nosect.asm
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+	PRINTT "{_NARG}\n"
diff --git a/test/asm/narg-nosect.err b/test/asm/narg-nosect.err
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..918c3b11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/asm/narg-nosect.err
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+ERROR: narg-nosect.asm(1):
+    _NARG does not make sense outside of a macro
+error: Assembly aborted (1 errors)!
diff --git a/test/asm/narg-nosect.out b/test/asm/narg-nosect.out
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ebfabbe4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/asm/narg-nosect.out
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+$0