Friday, June 13, 2008

AZ: AZCDL Legislative Update

AZCDL legislative update:
HB 2634, the AzCDL-requested bill that clarifies that a person with an expunged or set-aside felony conviction, or one who has had their rights restored, may obtain a concealed weapons permit, was signed by the Governor on Thursday, June 12, 2008.

HB 2634 changes ARS 13-3112 regarding the process for obtaining a concealed weapons permit. It provides that if an applicant has ever been convicted of a felony, they may apply for a permit if the conviction has been vacated or if their rights have been restored, provided that they are not currently a prohibited possessor under state or federal law.

DPS has interpreted the current statutory language in the strictest possible manner, in order to deny permits to people convicted of minor felony offenses decades ago, people who have since demonstrated no tendency towards criminal behavior. Many of these people are allowed to purchase and posses firearms under federal law (some are even federally licensed firearms dealers), and carry them openly under Arizona law, yet they cannot get a CCW permit due to DPS' strict interpretation of existing statutory law. HB 2634 allows these people the same protection under the law that every other citizen receives.

Stay tuned! Information on legislation can be found at the AzCDL website: http://www.azcdl.org/html/legislation.html

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today!

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Copyright © 2008 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quick question. When does HB 2634 take effect?

Anonymous said...

First I would like to thank everyone involved for thier hard work in getting this law to pass, Good work AZCDL!!

Will I be able to take the CCW course before the law goes into effect and then submit the paper work to DPS when the law changes?
Thanks

Dustin said...

It is scheduled to take effect on the "general effective date" which is 91 days after the Arizona Legislature closes this years session. This link should be updated with the 2008 general effective date after the session has ended this year.

For the second question, yes you can take the CCW course before the effective date but don't mail in the paperwork until after the law takes effect.