Open carry in Arizona is legal without a permit for anyone at least 18 years old who is not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm. That applies to handguns, rifles, and shotguns, loaded, in most public places. No registration, no training course, no application. Arizona is among the most permissive states in the country on this, but the freedom is not unlimited: your age, your record, and where you happen to be standing all still matter.
Who Can Open Carry
If you are 18 or older, you can openly carry a loaded firearm almost anywhere Arizona law does not specifically forbid it. Concealed carry without a permit is also legal, but only at 21 and up.
Under 18 is a different story. A minor who is not emancipated cannot carry a firearm in public, on a street or highway, or in a vehicle unless a parent, grandparent, or legal guardian is with them. A certified hunter safety or firearms safety instructor can also supervise, but only with parental or guardian consent.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-3111 – Minors Prohibited From Carrying or Possessing Firearms; Exceptions; Seizure and Forfeiture; Penalties; Classification Minors may possess firearms without supervision on private property owned or leased by themselves or their parent, grandparent, or guardian.
Who Cannot Carry at All
Arizona classifies certain people as “prohibited possessors.” If you fall into any of these categories, open carry is not available to you regardless of age:
- Anyone convicted of a felony in any state, unless their firearm rights have been formally restored through the courts.2Arizona Judicial Branch. Restore Firearm Rights
- Anyone a court has found to be a danger to themselves or others, or to have a persistent or acute disability under Arizona’s involuntary treatment statutes, whose right to possess firearms has not been restored.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-3101 – Definitions
- Anyone currently on probation for a domestic violence offense.
- Anyone currently incarcerated.
- Anyone not legally present in the United States.
Federal law adds another prohibition Arizona statutes do not: anyone convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence offense involving physical force cannot possess a firearm, even though the underlying conviction was a misdemeanor rather than a felony.4Legal Information Institute. Lautenberg Amendment
A prohibited possessor caught carrying faces a class 4 felony. For a first offense, the presumptive prison term is 2.5 years, with a range from 1 year up to 3.75 years depending on mitigating or aggravating factors.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-702 – First Time Felony Offenders; Sentencing; Definition
Places Where You Cannot Carry
Several locations are off-limits under Arizona’s misconduct-involving-weapons statute:6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-3102 – Misconduct Involving Weapons; Defenses; Classification; Definitions
- K-12 school grounds, both public and private, including the surrounding campus.
- Polling places on election day.
- Nuclear and hydroelectric generating stations.
Airports work differently than most people assume. Arizona law does not ban firearms in the public areas of an airport. What you cannot do is take a firearm through the TSA security checkpoint; federal rules take over from there.
Government Buildings
Government-owned buildings are not automatic no-carry zones. The offense arises only when an operator of the building asks you to remove your weapon and you refuse.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3102 – Misconduct Involving Weapons; Defenses; Classification; Definitions The same rule applies to government-sponsored public events. In practice, many courthouses and government offices screen at the door, so the distinction rarely comes up on site.
Private Property and Businesses
A private property owner or business can prohibit firearms on the premises. For most businesses this runs through trespass law: if an owner or employee asks you to leave because you are carrying and you refuse, you can be charged with criminal trespassing.
Bars and restaurants with liquor licenses have their own rule. The establishment can ban firearms by posting a sign that includes a pictogram of a firearm inside a red circle with a red diagonal line and the words “no firearms allowed pursuant to A.R.S. section 4-229.” Once that sign is up, carrying inside is illegal whether or not anyone asks you to leave.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 4 Section 4-229 – Licenses; Handguns; Posting of Notice
Drinking and Carrying
If a bar or restaurant has not posted the required sign, someone 21 or older who is not a prohibited possessor may carry concealed inside. But you cannot drink any alcohol while in possession of a firearm on those premises.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 4-244 – Unlawful Acts Not one beer, not a sip of wine. The only exception is for undercover law enforcement officers on assignment.
Tribal Land Is Not Covered
Arizona’s carry laws do not apply on Native American reservations. Tribes are sovereign nations and set their own firearm policies, some of which are far more restrictive than state law. Some tribes prohibit firearms entirely for non-tribal members. Given how much of Arizona sits on tribal land, check with the tribal government about their rules before traveling through or visiting a reservation.
Firearms in Your Vehicle
If you are 21 or older, you can carry a loaded firearm anywhere in your vehicle, openly visible or concealed, without a permit.
Between 18 and 20, concealed carry on your person is illegal, but the statute creates broad exceptions for firearms stored in a vehicle. You can keep a firearm in a case, holster, storage compartment, glove box, map pocket, or trunk without violating the concealed-carry restriction, even though the weapon is not visible.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3102 – Misconduct Involving Weapons; Defenses; Classification; Definitions An 18-to-20-year-old who carries concealed on their person, outside those storage methods, commits a class 3 misdemeanor.
K-12 school grounds override the normal vehicle-carry rules. An adult may have a firearm in a vehicle on school property only if the firearm is unloaded and not visible from outside the vehicle, and the vehicle stays locked whenever the driver steps out.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-3102 – Misconduct Involving Weapons; Defenses; Classification; Definitions
If a Police Officer Stops You
Arizona does not require you to volunteer that you are carrying. If an officer asks whether you have a concealed weapon, though, you must answer truthfully. Failing to answer accurately is itself a weapons offense.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3102 – Misconduct Involving Weapons; Defenses; Classification; Definitions Some states require an immediate announcement the moment an officer approaches; Arizona only requires an honest answer when asked.
Openly carrying a firearm in Arizona is legal and, by itself, does not give an officer the reasonable suspicion needed to pat you down for weapons. Context still matters. If you are carrying openly and something else about the encounter raises suspicion, a brief search may still be permissible under federal law.
Federal Buildings and National Parks
Federal law overrides Arizona’s carry rules inside any building owned or leased by the federal government where federal employees regularly work. That includes post offices, federal courthouses, Social Security offices, VA facilities, and IRS offices.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 930 – Possession of Firearms and Dangerous Weapons in Federal Facilities
National parks in Arizona take a different approach. You can carry in the open areas of a national park as long as you follow Arizona law, which for anyone 18 or older means open carry is fine. You cannot bring the firearm into any park building, including visitor centers, ranger stations, and fee-collection offices.11U.S. National Park Service. Firearms in National Parks Discharging a firearm inside a national park is also prohibited unless you are hunting in a park that specifically allows it.
No Stricter Rules City to City
Arizona does not let cities or counties layer their own firearm restrictions on top of state law. Any local ordinance that tries to regulate firearm possession, carrying, sale, or transfer more strictly than the state is automatically void.12Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-3108 – Firearms Regulated by State; State Preemption; Injunction; Civil Penalty; Cause of Action; Violation; Classification; Definition What is legal in one Arizona city is legal in the next.