In Arizona, a convicted felon cannot legally own a gun unless their firearm rights have been formally restored. State law labels every person with an unrestored felony conviction a “prohibited possessor,” and federal law adds its own lifetime ban on top. Whether you can ever get those rights back depends on what kind of felony you were convicted of: a single non-violent felony can lead to automatic restoration, a “serious” offense forces a ten-year wait and a judge’s decision, and a “dangerous” offense closes the door for good.
Who Counts as a Prohibited Possessor
Arizona defines a prohibited possessor as anyone convicted of a felony whose right to possess a firearm has not been restored.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3101 – Definitions It doesn’t matter whether the conviction happened in Arizona or another state. The category also covers people currently on felony probation or parole, people a court has found to be a danger to themselves or others, and certain noncitizens.
Federal law runs alongside the state ban. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison is barred from possessing a firearm or ammunition anywhere in the country.2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons Clearing the Arizona ban does not automatically clear the federal one.
Automatic Restoration for First-Time Felons
Arizona offers the cleanest path back for people with a single felony conviction that was neither dangerous nor serious. Under A.R.S. § 13-907, if you have no prior felony convictions, your civil rights — including firearm rights — restore automatically once you complete probation or are discharged from prison and have paid all victim restitution.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-907 – Automatic Restoration of Civil Rights for First Offenders; Firearm Rights No application, no hearing. It happens by operation of law.
The carve-out matters. Automatic firearm restoration does not apply if your conviction was a dangerous offense or a serious offense, even if it was your first felony.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-907 – Automatic Restoration of Civil Rights for First Offenders; Firearm Rights Voting and jury service can restore in those cases, but firearm rights follow a stricter track.
Serious Offenses and the Ten-Year Wait
If your conviction is a “serious offense,” you cannot even petition for firearm rights until ten years after your absolute discharge from prison or probation.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-910 – Restoration of Right to Possess a Firearm After that decade passes, restoration still isn’t guaranteed. It’s entirely up to the judge.
Arizona’s serious offense list under A.R.S. § 13-706 includes first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault causing serious injury or involving a deadly weapon, sexual assault, sexual conduct with a minor under fifteen, child sex trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping, first-degree burglary, arson of an occupied structure, and dangerous crimes against children.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-706 – Serious Offenses Out-of-state convictions that would qualify as a serious offense in Arizona trigger the same ten-year wait.
Dangerous Offenses and the Permanent Ban
Anyone convicted of a “dangerous offense” is permanently barred from firearm restoration in Arizona. A.R.S. § 13-910 prohibits them from filing a petition at all.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-910 – Restoration of Right to Possess a Firearm No waiting period, no judicial discretion, no workaround.
A dangerous offense, defined in A.R.S. § 13-105, is any crime that involved the discharge, use, or threatening display of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, or the intentional or knowing infliction of serious physical injury.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-105 – Definitions The designation depends on how the crime was committed, not just what it was charged as. A robbery with a gun becomes a dangerous offense because of the weapon; the same robbery without one would not. The facts of your specific case matter more than the statute name.
Some crimes appear on both the serious and dangerous lists. Armed robbery is a serious offense by name and a dangerous offense in fact when a weapon was used. When a conviction fits both, the permanent ban controls.
The Federal Ban Doesn’t Lift Automatically
This is where people trip up. Restoring your firearm rights under Arizona law does not automatically remove the federal ban under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), which also covers ammunition — something Arizona’s prohibited-possessor statute doesn’t explicitly address.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
Federal law does recognize certain state-level relief. If a conviction has been expunged, pardoned, or set aside, or if civil rights have been restored, and none of those actions expressly bar firearm possession, the conviction generally stops counting federally. The critical detail: the state must restore firearm rights specifically, not just voting or jury service. When Arizona restores full civil rights including firearms under § 13-907 or § 13-910, the federal prohibition should lift in most cases. When Arizona restores other rights but leaves the firearm restriction in place, as it does for serious and dangerous offenses, the federal ban stays fully intact.
If your situation is ambiguous — a conviction in one state with residence in another, or a partial Arizona restoration — talk to an attorney before touching a firearm. Federal felon-in-possession penalties are far steeper than the state equivalent.
What a Set-Aside Actually Does
Arizona allows people who have completed a sentence to apply to have the judgment of guilt “set aside” under A.R.S. § 13-905. A set-aside is not expungement. Law enforcement and prosecutors can still see the conviction, and it can still be used as a prior in future cases. What a set-aside does is release you from most penalties and disabilities the conviction carried.
Not every felony qualifies. You cannot get a set-aside if your conviction was a dangerous offense, required sex offender registration, carried a finding of sexual motivation, or involved a victim under fifteen.
A set-aside can help elsewhere — employment, licensing — but it does not restore firearm rights on its own for serious or dangerous offenses. For a first-time, non-violent felony where § 13-907 already restores rights automatically, the set-aside adds little to the gun question.
Domestic Violence Convictions Are Their Own Trap
Even a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction triggers a separate federal firearm ban under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9). The conviction does not have to be a felony. If the offense involved the use or attempted use of physical force against a spouse, former spouse, parent, guardian, cohabitant, or co-parent, federal law prohibits firearm and ammunition possession regardless of the sentence.8Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence Prohibitions
A pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights can lift the ban, but only if the relief does not expressly restrict firearm possession. For offenses involving a “dating relationship” rather than a familial or cohabiting one, federal law provides a narrower fix: if the person has only one such conviction, five years have passed since conviction or completion of sentence, and no other disqualifying offenses exist, the prohibition lifts automatically.8Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence Prohibitions That five-year rule does not apply when the victim was a spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, or co-parent.
Someone with both a felony conviction and a domestic violence misdemeanor faces two independent federal prohibitions. Clearing one does not clear the other.
Penalties If You Possess Anyway
A prohibited possessor caught with a firearm in Arizona faces a “misconduct involving weapons” charge under A.R.S. § 13-3102, a Class 4 felony.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3102 – Misconduct Involving Weapons; Defenses; Classification; Definitions For a first-time felony offender, the presumptive sentence is 2.5 years, with a range running from one year mitigated to 3.75 years aggravated.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-702 – First Time Felony Offenders; Sentencing; Definition A new felony also resets your prohibited-possessor status and eliminates the automatic restoration path under § 13-907, because you’re no longer a first-time offender.
Federal prosecutors can charge the same conduct under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and federal penalties run higher. A standard conviction carries up to ten years in federal prison, and the Armed Career Criminal Act imposes a fifteen-year mandatory minimum for defendants with three or more prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses. In fiscal year 2024, the average federal sentence for a § 922(g) conviction was 71 months.11United States Sentencing Commission. Section 922(g) Firearms
State and federal charges are not mutually exclusive. The same act can bring prosecution in both systems, and federal authorities tend to pick up cases involving a violent history or a firearm found during another crime.