Arizona CCW Permit

Question: When shipping firearms to another Arizona resident do I have to send it to an FFL or can I ship it directly to the other resident? I assume since I can sell it without any paper work to another resident I can just ship it to him but cannot find any information on the subject.

Answer:  You can only transfer firearms between Arizona residents in a ‘face to face’ transaction.  You need to be able to inspect the I.D. of the person you are selling the firearm to so that you can insure a ‘legal’ transfer of the firearm.  The buyer must be at least 18 years old for either a long gun or a handgun.  They should also certify in writing that they are not a ‘prohibited possessor’ and can legally possess a firearm in Arizona.

I always recommend keeping a ‘Bill of Sale’ that includes the name and address of both the buyer and the seller and a complete description of the firearm being transferred, including the serial number.  This is also a great place to have language certifying that the buyer can legally own a firearm in Arizona.  The buyer should sign and date the document.

The ‘Bill of Sale’ gives you a permanent record of the transaction and can be a huge time saver if the firearm you sold is ever stolen or used in a crime and the police come asking questions…

If you can’t do a ‘face to face’ transfer, or if you are selling a firearm to a buyer that lives out of state, you need to ship the firearm to an FFL near where your buyer resides.  Usually the FFL charges a small fee to process the paperwork.  You should contact the FFL prior to shipping to them for instructions on how to ship the firearm to them.  

You cannot ship firearms via US Mail.  You will need to use either FedEx or UPS.  I’d recommend that you ship it overnight as their is less chance of someone ‘diverting’ the shipment if they suspect the contents (yes, valuable items sometimes get pilfered in transit).  I would also recommend that you insure the package for the replacement value of the item being shipped.  By the way, you should not ship any ammo with the firearm.

Once it arrives at the other end, the FFL will contact your buyer.  When they come in to pick up the gun, the buyer will need to complete ATF Form 4473 (Firearm Transfer Record) which will remain on file with the FFL.  They will also have to present government issued photo ID and a valid Arizona CCW permit or the dealer will have to run a background check prior to releasing the firearm to your buyer.  Assuming they have a CCW permit or a clear background check they will be good to go.  

You might want to clarify who pays the FFL transfer fee in advance so there is no confusion when it comes time to make the transfer.

The process I have described is pretty typical.  Different FFLs may work slightly differently.  Some may charge a fee of $25-$50 while others may charge less.  Some FFLs don’t do private party transfers, so you need to check with them first.

I know this sounds like a bit of a hassle and it is.  The rules are in place to make sure that people that shouldn’t have guns don’t get them.  You can also see why most people prefer to do a ‘face-to-face’ transfer.  They are much simpler…

Question:  I recently starting carpooling (in my vehicle) with a co-worker.  I found out he has a felony conviction from about 8 years ago.  I have a valid CCW and want to know how, if at all, this poses a problem for me and or him being in a vehicle with a concealed weapon.

Answer:  The answer to the question above is  “it depends”.  To understand why, let’s take this situation a piece at a time.

Since you have a valid CCW and it is your vehicle, as long as your firearm stays under your exclusive control (probably by being on your person), neither you nor your co-worker should have any issues.  

He is not in possession of the firearm, which would be illegal for him and you are not allowing a ‘prohibited possessor’ access to a firearm which would be illegal for both of you.

But with a slight modification of the circumstances, things could change fairly dramatically.  For example, if you were to place your firearm in the glove box and your co-worker were sitting in the passenger seat, he would have immediate, unrestricted access to your firearm.  This would be illegal for him and could have several complications for you as well.  It would be even worse if you left him alone in the vehicle with your firearm.

The key element here is his ‘access’ to the firearm.  If he doesn’t have access, then it is not a problem.  If he does, then it is.  I’d suggest that you keep the firearm on your person, or if you can’t do that you need to lock your firearm inside a secure lockbox that is somehow attached to your vehicle or inside of your trunk where your co-worker has no access to it.

As an additional piece of information, if you co-workers conviction was for a non-violent felony offense, he should consider asking the court to restore his civil rights, including his right to own a firearm.  If this request is granted, it could help him out a great deal and could make this entire problem go away…

A questioner writes:  “Is my Arizona CCW Permit valid in New Mexico?”

New Mexico does recognize the Arizona CCW Permit for non-residents visiting their state.  

The biggest thing to remember when carrying on a non-resident permit is that you must abide by the laws of the state you are visiting, not the state where your permit was issued.  This means you are responsible for knowing New Mexico law when carrying a firearm there.

Fortunately, many of the laws in New Mexico are similar to those in Arizona.  Open Carry is unrestricted in most public areas and seems to be generally accepted.  Also, like Arizona, New Mexico is a ‘shall issue’ state.

Carry of a concealed weapon by a person on foot requires that they have a concealed weapons permit.  Vehicle carry of a firearm in New Mexico is unrestricted.  Persons may carry a loaded firearm, concealed anywhere in their vehicle without a permit as long as the firearm is being carried for lawful self defense.  The firearm can even be placed in a purse or briefcase, as long as it stays inside the vehicle while being concealed.

Firearms are prohibited in posted areas or other locations such as game preserves, schools, courthouses, national parks, federal office buildings and any establishment where alcohol is served for consumption on the premises.  

Carrying a concealed weapon into a place that serves alcohol is a 4th degree felony…so I’d take special care to avoid breaking that law.

Other information regarding concealed carry in New Mexico can be found at the New Mexico Department of Public Safety website:

http://www.dps.nm.org/lawEnforcement/ccw/index.php

I recently received a question from a young man who was 18 years old and interested in getting a handgun.  He wanted to know if it was OK to carry openly.  He also wanted to know if the fact that he had been charged with two misdemeanors would affect his right to own a firearm. 

Finally, there is a convicted felon living in his household, making it illegal for him to have a firearm in the home, if that firearm was accessible to the felon.  He was curious about his ability to keep the firearm locked in his car since he could not keep it at home.

Since there are three distinct questions, let’s take them one by one. 

With respect to his firearms ownership, in Arizona it is perfectly legal to possess a handgun if you are 18 years old or older.  Since a person under 21 years old cannot purchase a gun from a federally licensed firearms dealer, the firearm would have to be acquired using a private party sale or would have to be a gift from someone legally permitted to own a firearm.

Arizona is an open carry state, so it would be perfectly legal for anyone that can legally possess a firearm to carry openly in any place where it is legal to have a firearm.

The fact that he had been charged with two misdemeanors really doesn’t apply here since neither of them had anything to do with domestic violence.

The fact that he is living in the same home as a convicted felon does have some implications.  Since it is illegal for a person to provide a felon with a firearm or make a firearm accessible to them, it would be very difficult to adequately secure a firearm in the home, making it completely inaccessible to the prohibited possessor.  Storing the firearm in the vehicle presents exactly the same problem as it would be necessary to make sure that the firearm was completely inaccessible to the prohibited possessor.

I wrote a pretty detailed post on dealing with this type of situation a few weeks back.  You can refer to the discussion of how to deal with firearms when living with a prohibited possessor here:

http://arizonaccwpermit.com/2008/07/08/households-with-convicted-felons-and-firearms/

As I said in my earlier post, it is a tough situation to deal with, but one that can be managed under the correct circumstances.

Question:  We have inherited a Glock pistol from a relative in Colorado.  It came with a large amount of ammo for the gun. 

Is there a law about transporting this gun and a limit on the amount of ammo for it?  It is for another relative and we have been asked to deliver it.

Answer:  There is no limit on ammo that you can transport as long as it is for personal use (not for resale).  

Regarding transporting your gun, the laws vary from state to state in terms of how a firearm may be legally transported in a vehicle.  

Since you didn’t say where you would be transporting the gun, if you keep it in a locked case in the trunk and keep the gun unloaded while you are transporting it, you will be in compliance with the strictest laws out there and shouldn’t have a problem…

I received a question asking if a person applying for and receiving a CCW Permit gave up any of their legal rights as a result of having an Arizona CCW permit.

The short answer that you do not give up any of your legal rights by obtaining an Arizona CCW Permit.

Arizona is an ‘open carry’ state.  That means that an individual that is legally permitted to possess a firearm can carry that firearm openly anywhere it is legal to have a firearm.

Having an AZ CCW permit means that you can still carry your firearm anywhere it is legal for you to have a firearm, but it can now be concealed.

There are a few things that you should know however…

• You cannot carry a firearm anywhere that it is not legal to have a firearm, regardless of your permit status.
• You must surrender your firearm to a police officer during a traffic stop (with or without a CCW).  This is for their safety.  The firearm will be returned to you at the conclusion of the stop.
• You must voluntarily agree to a criminal background check, including fingerprinting, when applying for a CCW permit.

Other than that, there is nothing different, rights wise, regarding having a CCW or not.

You do need to remember that having a CCW permit is a privilege, not a right.  In that sense it is just like a driver’s license.  If you screw up and break the law, they can take it away from you.  But if you are a law abiding citizen and have not broken any laws, you don’t have anything to worry about.

A questioner writes:  “I recently purchased a 9mm Kahr PM9 for concealed carry and home defense. I live in an apartment and would like to get ammunition that will not put others in the complex in danger. I am looking at Mag-Safe but have read mixed reviews about the functioning in autos. Thank you for your time.”

This was a great question.  It is an excellent issue to consider if you live in a multi-family dwelling or apartment complex.  The questioner was being a very responsible person to be making sure that they minimized the opportunity for ‘collateral damage’ should they have to use a handgun for personal defense at home.

Mag-Safe and other frangible rounds will essentially break up on contact with any hard surface.  The Mag-Safe rounds in particular have a pellet core in the 9mm configuration and will not penetrate sheet-rock.  Most other frangible rounds have an epoxy core and again will not penetrate any hard surface that you might fire at.

Glaser Safety Slugs are another variety of ammo that is designed to avoid over penetration.  Glaser uses a jacketed round that contains a tightly packed lead shot projectile.  Again, the issue here is that in many cases the projectile does not achieve enough penetration to do significant damage to your intended target.  Thus, the lack of stopping power tends to defeat the purpose of using a gun against your bad guy.

There are a couple of versions of Glaser rounds that supposedly have different penetration characteristics.  The ‘blue’ version is supposed to penetrate a soft target 5-7 inches where the ’silver’ version is supposedly good for between 8-10 inches of penetration.  These tests are done using ‘ballistic gelatin’.  Last time I checked, ballistic gelatin does not wear heavy clothing or hide behind walls, doors, furniture or other objects, so I would take these penetration numbers with a grain of salt.

There is a potential for reliability issues with this type of ammo when used in a semi-automatic pistol.  It is generally not a ‘feed’ issue but a ‘cycle’ issue.  Many of these rounds are not powerful enough to reliably cycle a semi-automatic pistol.   I have used frangible ammo extensively during training exercises in shoot houses and in my personal experience, this has been an issue for certain weapons and calibers.

I would suggest a couple of things right off the bat.  First, if you do use something like Mag-Safe or any other ‘frangible’ ammo, I’d strongly suggest that you do not use it for concealed carry when you are ‘out in the world’.

Using frangible or pre-fragmented ammo is great if you are concerned about penetration in your home, but lousy if you need to shoot through a hollow core door, heavy concealment, a car door or something else that your bad guy is hiding behind.

The Federal Air Marshals did some testing with frangible ammo a few years back.  It is instructive that they now all carry standard hollow point defensive ammo and do not carry frangible ammunition.

If you are really concerned about over-penetration at home, I’d probably suggest having two different magazines.  Load one with a frangible round and put that one in the gun when at home.  Load the other one with a high quality defensive round and use that one when ‘out in the world’.

One last thing to consider…if you are shooting a high quality defensive round and hit your intended target, you should not have to worry about over-penetration putting your neighbors at risk.  It is only an issue if you ‘miss’.  With good marksmanship and situational awareness, you may not really need the frangible ammo at all…

Recently I have had a several questions from active duty military folks regarding concealed carry in Arizona.  I decided to combine the last few questions into a single post to explain how it works for those of you who are stationed here or have some general questions about the need for or the renewal of an Arizona CCW permit.

First, I was asked if there was a provision in the Patriot Act that permits Active Duty military to carry concealed without having a CCW permit.  I’m sorry to say that there is no provision for this in the Patriot Act.

The USA Patriot Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001 and included a wide range of provisions designed to expand the authority of US law enforcement agencies, enabling them to be more effective in fighting terrorism both in the US and abroad.

The Patriot Act included provisions in the broad categories of surveillance procedures, anti-money-laundering provisions, border security, terrorism investigation, terrorism criminal law and provisions to make information sharing between law enforcement agencies easier.

It did not include any provisions regarding concealed carry by active duty military without a state issued concealed carry permit from their state of residence.

Second, I was asked a question about whether or not active duty military stationed in Arizona need to get an Arizona permit in order to carry concealed.

The short answer is yes.

In Arizona, active duty military personnel visiting  here that have a valid concealed carry permit from their state of residence are permitted to carry concealed as long as their non-resident permit is recognized by Arizona.  As of this writing, Arizona recognizes any valid permit issued by another state to a non-resident visitor in Arizona.

As soon as a person holding a non-resident permit from another state become a resident of Arizona, they are required to get an Arizona permit to carry a concealed weapon in Arizona.  In general, active duty military personnel stationed in Arizona pursuant to military orders are considered to be Arizona residents.

Third, I was asked what happens if an Arizona permit holder is on active duty overseas when their permit expires.  How do they renew their permit?

It is possible to renew an Arizona permit completely by mail by simply submitting a renewal application and a renewal fee of $43 to the Arizona Department of Public Safety CCW Permit Unit.  This is an option available to any person, including active duty military.

There is an additional provision that if a person is a member of the US Armed Forces, Arizona National Guard or a reserve member of any military establishment of the US and is on federal active duty and deployed overseas at the time their Arizona CCW permit expires, they are permitted to renew their permit using the standard renewal procedures within 90 days after the end of their overseas deployment.  Evidence of the dates of deployment must accompany the person’s renewal application.

A reader recently raised an excellent question. He had read that it was illegal to carry a firearm during a ‘Bow Only’ hunting season. He was concerned that there was an apparent contradiction in Arizona law regarding legal open or concealed carry for self protection and the prohibition of carrying a firearm during a ‘Bow Only’ season as published in the hunting regulations enforced by Arizona Game and Fish. Essentially, he wanted to know if he still had the right to carry for self protection in the field if he was hunting during a “Bow Only” season.

The original game regulations that Game & Fish came out with did prohibit hunters from carrying a firearm during a “Bow Only” season. I believe that the original intent of this regulation was to prevent poaching. While this was well intentioned from a game management point of view, they may not have considered the current reality of life in our Arizona wilderness areas.

In the southern part of the state, the number of armed smugglers moving people or drugs across the border has made things quite dangerous for anyone in the wilderness, but especially so for anyone that is unarmed. In other parts of the state, there have been incidents where hikers and hunters have been threatened by armed individuals when they accidentally wandered into areas being used for the cultivation of illegal drugs.

While the Game & Fish rule still stands, the commission has announced plans to change this provision in the next revision cycle. In the meantime, an “enforcement directive” has been issued that tells the Wildlife Managers not to write tickets for this offense.

One word of caution - I would recommend that the handgun not have a six inch barrel with a scope on it or the Wildlife Manager might question the purpose of the handgun and why it is being carried.

If you want to see the original rule and the vote of the commissioners on the directive you can check out the two links below. On the first link, scroll down about half way and you will see the article on the Archery hunter being able to carry for personal protection. The second link will take you to the minutes where the issuance of the “enforcement directive” occurred.

http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/highlights/highlights_0602.html

http://www.azgfd.gov/inside_azgfd/documents/120905CommMtgMinutes.pdf

I received a question recently regarding felony arrests and whether or not someone who had been arrested but not convicted could get an Arizona CCW Permit.

If you were arrested for felony charges, but those charges were dropped and you were never convicted of a felony, then you can get a CCW permit in Arizona.

As a result of recent changes to Arizona law, if you were arrested, charged and convicted but the conviction was expunged after completion of your sentence and term of probation or if the conviction was overturned, or if after completing your sentence and term of probation your civil rights, including your right to own a firearm was restored, you can also be issued a concealed weapons permit.

If you were convicted of a felony crime of violence that is considered to be a ‘serious offense’ under ARS 13-604, you cannot be issued an Arizona CCW permit under any circumstances. ARS 13-604 deals with serious crimes, crimes involving violence and repeat offenders.