Arizona Laws 13-3102. Misconduct involving weapons; defenses; classification; definitions
A. A person commits misconduct involving weapons by knowingly:
Attorney's Note
Under the Arizona Laws, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Class 2 felony | up to 10 years | up to $150,000 |
| Class 4 felony | up to 3 years | up to $150,000 |
| Class 6 felony | up to 1 1/2 years | up to $150,000 |
| Class 1 misdemeanor | up to 6 months | up to $2,500 |
| Class 3 misdemeanor | up to 30 days | up to $500 |
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 13-3102
- Act: means a bodily movement. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Adult: means a person who has attained eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Conduct: means an act or omission and its accompanying culpable mental state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Crime: means a misdemeanor or a felony. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Criminal street gang: means an ongoing formal or informal association of persons in which members or associates individually or collectively engage in the commission, attempted commission, facilitation or solicitation of any felony act and that has at least one individual who is a criminal street gang member. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Deadly weapon: means anything that is designed for lethal use. See Arizona Laws 13-3101
- Devise: To gift property by will.
- Enterprise: includes any corporation, association, labor union or other legal entity. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Felony: means an offense for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment in the custody of the state department of corrections is authorized by any law of this state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Firearm: means any loaded or unloaded handgun, pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun or other weapon that will expel, is designed to expel or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. See Arizona Laws 13-3101
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Knowingly: means , with respect to conduct or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense, that a person is aware or believes that the person's conduct is of that nature or that the circumstance exists. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Misdemeanor: means an offense for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment other than to the custody of the state department of corrections is authorized by any law of this state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Occupied structure: means any building, object, vehicle, watercraft, aircraft or place with sides and a floor that is separately securable from any other structure attached to it, that is used for lodging, business, transportation, recreation or storage and in which one or more human beings either are or are likely to be present or so near as to be in equivalent danger at the time the discharge of a firearm occurs. See Arizona Laws 13-3101
- Peace officer: means any person vested by law with a duty to maintain public order and make arrests and includes a constable. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Person: means a human being and, as the context requires, an enterprise, a public or private corporation, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a firm, a society, a government, a governmental authority or an individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Possession: means a voluntary act if the defendant knowingly exercised dominion or control over property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Prohibited possessor: means any person:
(a) Who has been found to constitute a danger to self or to others or to have a persistent or acute disability or grave disability pursuant to court order pursuant to section 36-540, and whose right to possess a firearm has not been restored pursuant to section 13-925. See Arizona Laws 13-3101
- Property: means anything of value, tangible or intangible. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Trafficking: means to sell, transfer, distribute, dispense or otherwise dispose of a weapon or explosive to another person, or to buy, receive, possess or obtain control of a weapon or explosive, with the intent to sell, transfer, distribute, dispense or otherwise dispose of the weapon or explosive to another person. See Arizona Laws 13-3101
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Vehicle: means a device in, upon or by which any person or property is, may be or could have been transported or drawn upon a highway, waterway or airway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Arizona Laws 13-105
1. Carrying a deadly weapon except a pocket knife concealed on his person or within his immediate control in or on a means of transportation:
(a) In the furtherance of a serious offense as defined in section 13-706, a violent crime as defined in Section 13-901.03 or any other felony offense; or
(b) When contacted by a law enforcement officer and failing to accurately answer the officer if the officer asks whether the person is carrying a concealed deadly weapon; or
2. Carrying a deadly weapon except a pocket knife concealed on his person or concealed within his immediate control in or on a means of transportation if the person is under twenty-one years of age; or
3. Manufacturing, possessing, transporting, selling or transferring a prohibited weapon, except that if the violation involves dry ice, a person commits misconduct involving weapons by knowingly possessing the dry ice with the intent to cause injury to or death of another person or to cause damage to the property of another person; or
4. Possessing a deadly weapon or prohibited weapon if such person is a prohibited possessor; or
5. Selling or transferring a deadly weapon to a prohibited possessor; or
6. Defacing a deadly weapon; or
7. Possessing a defaced deadly weapon knowing the deadly weapon was defaced; or
8. Using or possessing a deadly weapon during the commission of any felony offense included in chapter 34 of this title; or
9. Discharging a firearm at an occupied structure in order to assist, promote or further the interests of a criminal street gang, a criminal syndicate or a racketeering enterprise; or
10. Unless specifically authorized by law, entering any public establishment or attending any public event and carrying a deadly weapon on his person after a reasonable request by the operator of the establishment or the sponsor of the event or the sponsor’s agent to remove his weapon and place it in the custody of the operator of the establishment or the sponsor of the event for temporary and secure storage of the weapon pursuant to Section 13-3102.01; or
11. Unless specifically authorized by law, entering an election polling place on the day of any election carrying a deadly weapon; or
12. Possessing a deadly weapon on school grounds; or
13. Unless specifically authorized by law, entering a nuclear or hydroelectric generating station carrying a deadly weapon on his person or within the immediate control of any person; or
14. Supplying, selling or giving possession or control of a firearm to another person if the person knows or has reason to know that the other person would use the firearm in the commission of any felony; or
15. Using, possessing or exercising control over a deadly weapon in furtherance of any act of terrorism as defined in section 13-2301 or possessing or exercising control over a deadly weapon knowing or having reason to know that it will be used to facilitate any act of terrorism as defined in section 13-2301; or
16. Trafficking in weapons or explosives for financial gain in order to assist, promote or further the interests of a criminal street gang, a criminal syndicate or a racketeering enterprise.
B. Subsection A, paragraph 2 of this section shall not apply to:
1. A person in his dwelling, on his business premises or on real property owned or leased by that person or that person’s parent, grandparent or legal guardian.
2. A member of the sheriff’s volunteer posse or reserve organization who has received and passed firearms training that is approved by the Arizona peace officer standards and training board and who is authorized by the sheriff to carry a concealed weapon pursuant to section 11-441.
3. A firearm that is carried in:
(a) A manner where any portion of the firearm or holster in which the firearm is carried is visible.
(b) A holster that is wholly or partially visible.
(c) A scabbard or case designed for carrying weapons that is wholly or partially visible.
(d) Luggage.
(e) A case, holster, scabbard, pack or luggage that is carried within a means of transportation or within a storage compartment, map pocket, trunk or glove compartment of a means of transportation.
C. Subsection A, paragraphs 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of this section shall not apply to:
1. A peace officer or any person summoned by any peace officer to assist and while actually assisting in the performance of official duties; or
2. A member of the military forces of the United States or of any state of the United States in the performance of official duties; or
3. A warden, deputy warden, community correctional officer, detention officer, special investigator or correctional officer of the state department of corrections or the department of juvenile corrections; or
4. A person specifically licensed, authorized or permitted pursuant to a statute of this state or of the United States.
D. Subsection A, paragraph 10 of this section does not apply to an elected or appointed judicial officer in the court facility where the judicial officer works if the judicial officer has demonstrated competence with a firearm as prescribed in section 13-3112, subsection N, except that the judicial officer shall comply with any rule or policy adopted by the presiding judge of the superior court while in the court facility. For the purposes of this subsection, appointed judicial officer does not include a hearing officer or a judicial officer pro tempore who is not a full-time officer.
E. Subsection A, paragraphs 3 and 7 of this section shall not apply to:
1. The possessing, transporting, selling or transferring of weapons by a museum as a part of its collection or an educational institution for educational purposes or by an authorized employee of such museum or institution, if:
(a) Such museum or institution is operated by the United States or this state or a political subdivision of this state, or by an organization described in 26 United States Code § 170(c) as a recipient of a charitable contribution; and
(b) Reasonable precautions are taken with respect to theft or misuse of such material.
2. The regular and lawful transporting as merchandise; or
3. Acquisition by a person by operation of law such as by gift, devise or descent or in a fiduciary capacity as a recipient of the property or former property of an insolvent, incapacitated or deceased person.
F. Subsection A, paragraph 3 of this section shall not apply to the merchandise of an authorized manufacturer of or dealer in prohibited weapons, when such material is intended to be manufactured, possessed, transported, sold or transferred solely for or to a dealer, a regularly constituted or appointed state, county or municipal police department or police officer, a detention facility, the military service of this or another state or the United States, a museum or educational institution or a person specifically licensed or permitted pursuant to federal or state law.
G. Subsection A, paragraph 10 of this section shall not apply to shooting ranges or shooting events, hunting areas or similar locations or activities.
H. Subsection A, paragraph 12 of this section shall not apply to a weapon if such weapon is possessed for the purposes of preparing for, conducting or participating in hunter or firearm safety courses.
I. Subsection A, paragraph 12 of this section shall not apply to the possession of a:
1. Firearm that is not loaded and that is carried within a means of transportation under the control of an adult provided that if the adult leaves the means of transportation the firearm shall not be visible from the outside of the means of transportation and the means of transportation shall be locked.
2. Firearm for use on the school grounds in a program approved by a school.
3. Firearm by a person who possesses a certificate of firearms proficiency pursuant to section 13-3112, subsection T and who is authorized to carry a concealed firearm pursuant to the law enforcement officers safety act of 2004 (P.L. 108-277; 118 Stat. 865; 18 United States Code sections 926B and 926C).
J. Subsection A, paragraphs 2, 3, 7 and 13 of this section shall not apply to commercial nuclear generating station armed nuclear security guards during the performance of official duties or during any security training exercises sponsored by the commercial nuclear generating station or local, state or federal authorities.
K. The operator of the establishment or the sponsor of the event or the employee of the operator or sponsor or the agent of the sponsor, including a public entity or public employee, is not liable for acts or omissions pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 10 of this section unless the operator, sponsor, employee or agent intended to cause injury or was grossly negligent.
L. If a law enforcement officer contacts a person who is in possession of a firearm, the law enforcement officer may take temporary custody of the firearm for the duration of that contact.
M. Misconduct involving weapons under subsection A, paragraph 15 of this section is a class 2 felony. Misconduct involving weapons under subsection A, paragraph 9, 14 or 16 of this section is a class 3 felony. Misconduct involving weapons under subsection A, paragraph 3, 4, 8 or 13 of this section is a class 4 felony. Misconduct involving weapons under subsection A, paragraph 12 of this section is a class 1 misdemeanor unless the violation occurs in connection with conduct that violates section 13-2308, subsection A, paragraph 5, section 13-2312, subsection C, section 13-3409 or section 13-3411, in which case the offense is a class 6 felony. Misconduct involving weapons under subsection A, paragraph 1, subdivision (a) of this section or subsection A, paragraph 5, 6 or 7 of this section is a class 6 felony. Misconduct involving weapons under subsection A, paragraph 1, subdivision (b) of this section or subsection A, paragraph 10 or 11 of this section is a class 1 misdemeanor. Misconduct involving weapons under subsection A, paragraph 2 of this section is a class 3 misdemeanor.
N. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Contacted by a law enforcement officer" means a lawful traffic or criminal investigation, arrest or detention or an investigatory stop by a law enforcement officer that is based on reasonable suspicion that an offense has been or is about to be committed.
2. "Public establishment" means a structure, vehicle or craft that is owned, leased or operated by this state or a political subdivision of this state.
3. "Public event" means a specifically named or sponsored event of limited duration that is either conducted by a public entity or conducted by a private entity with a permit or license granted by a public entity. Public event does not include an unsponsored gathering of people in a public place.
4. "School" means a public or nonpublic kindergarten program, common school or high school.
5. "School grounds" means in, or on the grounds of, a school.