Arizona CCW Permit Process

A couple of months ago I decided I wanted to get an Arizona permit mainly because New Mexico and (more importantly for me) Nevada had recently withdrawn reciprocity support from Utah. I frequent Las Vegas on a semi-regular basis and prefer to be armed while there, but with the changes I couldn’t legally protect myself if needed. However, Nevada and Arizona have reciprocity agreements meaning that if I got an Arizona permit I could use that permit to carry in Nevada.

Non-resident permits are often a pain to get because of the training that is required so you either have to find an instructor in your state (if that’s even allowed) or travel to the state and take the time to go through the necessary training and classes.  However, Arizona’s permit now allows a CCW permit from another state to serve as qualification for the training. So if you already have another permit, in this case for me, a Utah permit, I do not need to take another class to get the Arizona permit. I simply emailed their issuing authority for a permit application, filled out the application, went to my local police office to get fingerprinted, took a photocopy of my UT permit and sent them the packet with a check for the processing fee.

So for a small fee and minimal time I am able to carry in Nevada and New Mexico and support a state that supports the Second Amendment. It’s a win-win. I would have applied for a Nevada permit, but I would have needed to go down to Nevada and take a class, qualify with my gun, and spend a day or more of my limited time when I’m there to working it out. This took me less than an hour and I could do it without leaving the state. Then within a few weeks I had my permit.  Overall I was very pleased with the process.

Edited to Add: If you are interested in getting an Arizona permit you can email the AZ DPS