Ian, Arizona has gone the exact opposite direction from your fine country.

We've had open-carry for as long as I can remember. Any legal owner can carry a gun of any legal type (pistol, rifle, shotgun) in a holster as long as that holster is at least partially visible. You can ride a motorcycle up and down Main Street with a .44 Magnum strapped to your leg, for instance. If a business owner wants to exclude gun owners from carrying in to his place, he has to clearly post that outside the business. You can't carry into a school or government building, but if you don't drink, you can carry into a bar, too.

AZ recently relaxed standards for carrying concealed. You used to have to take a two day course, which was shortened to as little as four hours. Now there is no requirement to take the class at all. Just conceal away and go. The classes are still offered, and have a few advantages. Some other states recognize the course completion and allow AZ permit holders to carry in their states as well. And permit holder usually get to skip the National Instant Check System (NICS) when they buy a firearm.

You can carry, concealed or in the open, locked and loaded in your vehicle. It's in your best interest to immediately reveal that information to a police officer while your hands are firmly atop the steering wheel if you get pulled over, however.

There is no gun registration in AZ. If you buy a gun here in a store, you pass the NICS by filling out a form and the retailer calls the info about you into a national number and receives an all-clear (usually) and away you go with your new/used gun with no waiting period. That can usually take almost a half hour, depending on how fast you can fill out the form and how busy the store is at the moment. The only record of the sale of the actual weapon is kept at that store for a period of a few years, then the store can purge those records. However, sales between individuals and sales at gun shows have no paper trail whatsoever. There is no required paperwork and no record of sale.

There are no magazine size limits. There is no ammunition type restriction, except in cases of lead-type shot for hunting waterfowl due to Condor poisoning and certain jacketed bullets that can cause sparks during target shooting and pose a fire risk (pending...maybe).

As long as someone 21 years old or older signs for it, you can mail order ammunition and have it sent to your house. And you can order as much as you'd like.

As discussed above, you have the right to defend yourself in your home, your car and pretty much anywhere else you have the right to be without duty to back down. If a shooting is deemed justifiable in the eyes of the law, there is little chance anyone can come after you for civil liability.

And for all this, as long as you aren't involved with a gang, aren't involved in drugs, aren't involved in human smuggling and don't get into a domestic violence situation, there's a very low chance you will ever be a victim of gun violence here.

The government in Arizona figures, right or wrong, that criminals weren't following any of these laws to begin with, so they leveled the playing field for those who do.

John B.