Why Get An Arizona Concealed Carry Permit

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill into law, allowing Arizonians 21 and older to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, background check or training class. Of course you’ll still have to legally be able to own and carry a firearm in order to take advantage of the new law.

Thus, we get a lot of questions from potentials students about why they would embark on taking a class and incurring a cost to get a permit if one isn’t necessary anymore in order to carry a concealed handgun. Below are the various reasons why:

• Reciprocity – If you ever travel outside of Arizona you will want a permit in order to continue to carry concealed. Currently over 30 states honor or have reciprocity with the Arizona CCW permit. Without the permit you cannot carry in any of those states.
• Restaurants Serving Alcohol – With the Arizona CCW permit you may carry your concealed weapon in restaurants or businesses that serve alcohol for consumption on the premises (you still can’t drink and the restaurant still may have a sign prohibiting firearms). Without a permit you cannot carry in these places at all. That includes popular family restaurants that serve alcohol.
  
• Without a permit you cannot take advantage of the right to carry into National Parks within the state of Arizona.
• Without a permit you can not carry your firearm within 1000 feet of a school. Do you realize how difficult it is to avoid 1000 feet boundries of every school in the state? (Federal Gun-Free School Zones Act)
  
• City of Phoenix ordinances prohibits the possession of a firearm in a city park of 1 square mile or less where posted “Carrying a firearm in this park is limited to persons who possess a permit issued pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-3112.”
  
• If you have a permit the process of obtaining a background check when you purchase a firearm is streamlined.
  
• Having a permit makes it easier for law enforcement to identify you as a person who has gone through a legal process to obtain training and education. It also proves to them that you can pass a rigorous background check, whereas people who don’t have a permit perhaps chose not to undergo the scrutiny of a background check. It says a lot about you when you find yourself in a confrontation (like a traffic stop) and you have a firearm.
• Your attorney will thank you. When you eventually end up in court to defend your own firearm related actions you will be more defend-able from charges like recklessness and negligence.
• Probably the greatest and most important reason however is the training. While we don’t feel that citizens should be legally required to obtain training in order to exercise a constitutional right; we do understand how critical training and education is.