Arizona is very gun friendly. If you are traveling from state to state and carrying, you need to know the situation in each state you are entering or you could get into trouble. For certain states or if you have any doubt at all, keeping moving through the state (reference the McClure-Volkmer Act to only stop for gas and emergencies) towards your final destination state. Your destination state must have acceptable laws for your stay. We make some generalities with our color map here for ease of use so you should always look up the current details of the laws. Handgun laws are where it usually varies the most. This is a controversial issue but which ever side you are on, it is better to have informed people out there. You can also download an easy to print version with all states and details.
Arizona Gun Law Travel Guide Basics
Ownership: unrestricted, no permit or license necessary
Consistency of laws: uniform throughout state, local areas are prohibited from changing laws
Self-defense: castle doctrine
Open carry: unrestricted
Concealed carry: shall issue state and recognizes non-residents with other permits
Vehicle carry handguns: holstered, loaded, plain view or glove box
Vehicle carry long guns: loaded, in plain view or cased
Official source information
Criminal Code
Concealed Carry Law
Do you have any experiences in Arizona that you care to share with other travelers?
sir w/ regard to in vehicle carry of firearms in the state of az i offer one minor correction: as long as your weapon is in a holster, sheath, case or scabbard designed for the carrying of a weapon it cannot be considered concealed and is thus legal in the state of az. [so long as some other over-arching restriction doesn't apply; i.e.military base, prohibited possesor, etc.] this is spelled out very clearly in the ‘a.r.s. title 13′, az’s criminal code, and your researchers should have caught it. this may seem to be nitpicking but if you can have easy access to your life preserver from the driver’s seat w/o badguys being able to see [and maybe steal] it shouldn’t your readers be made aware of that fact?
Thank you very much for the clarification. I actually lived in AZ for the last five years so I do know the details. I was trying to put everything into the simplest and most general terms here by saying “holstered” but you are right to be more specific. I need to go through and expand much of this as well, or provide pointers to the expanded details.
I want to add that the reason that I try to keep it simple is that I don’t want to seem very specific, have someone read my site and then get arrested on a technicality. This is meant as a good overview for people to then explore the laws in more detail if they need to to feel more comfortable.
Adam
So I am allowed to carry a handgun on my hip, as long as its in plain view and holstered, without any kind of license or permit? Given I’m not a felon or criminal of some sort?