How Many Felonies Still Allow Gun Rights Restoration in Arizona?

You have more than one felony on your record and you want to know whether a judge will ever hand your gun rights back. Somebody told you two felonies is the cutoff, or three, and you stopped asking. The convictions might be twenty years old, from one rough stretch of your life, and the number still sits in your head as the thing that disqualifies you.

We file firearm rights applications across Arizona every week, and AZ Record Removal is owned and powered by Future First Criminal Law. The count is not the first thing a judge reads.

Is there a limit on how many felonies you have and still restore gun rights in Arizona?

No. Arizona law sets no number of felony convictions that shuts the door on firearm rights restoration. A.R.S. § 13-910 is the firearm restoration law, and it never counts your convictions. It names two categories of offense, a dangerous offense and a serious offense, and those two categories are the only bars in it. A person with four theft felonies files under the same law as a person with one.

What the count changes is the route and the difficulty. One felony with a clean record afterward takes the automatic route. Two or more felonies means an application in superior court and a judge who decides. The more convictions you carry, the more the judge wants to see about the years since the last one. The number is a weight on the scale rather than a lock on the door.

As of 2026, the law works this way, and it has worked this way since lawmakers rewrote the rights restoration sections and added the automatic firearm piece for first offenders in 2022.

What changes when you have one felony instead of two or more?

The route changes. With a single felony conviction and no felony before it, A.R.S. § 13-907 restores your civil rights automatically once you finish probation or receive an absolute discharge from prison and pay every dollar of victim restitution. Since 2022 that automatic restoration includes the right to possess a firearm, unless the offense was dangerous or serious. No application, no hearing, no judge.

A second felony conviction, at any point in your life, takes that case off the automatic route. A.R.S. § 13-908 is the application route for anyone with a felony who does not qualify for automatic restoration. You apply to the superior court after your final discharge, the clerk charges no filing fee, and a judge decides whether to grant it. The same section carries firearm rights with it unless the conviction was a dangerous or serious offense. Read A.R.S. § 13-908 for the full text.

If your first felony ended before 2022, the firearm piece of the automatic restoration did not exist yet, so that case likely needs an order too.

Which felonies block or delay gun rights restoration?

Two kinds. A dangerous offense blocks restoration for life. A serious offense delays it. Every other felony carries no waiting period beyond finishing your sentence.

A dangerous offense, defined in A.R.S. § 13-105, is one that involved the discharge, use, or threatening exhibition of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, or the intentional or knowing infliction of serious physical injury. If the judge made a dangerous finding at sentencing, A.R.S. § 13-910 bars you from filing for firearm rights on that case. An out-of-state conviction that would have been dangerous here counts the same way.

A serious offense is one of twelve crimes the law lists by name. First degree murder, second degree murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault with serious injury or a weapon, sexual assault, any dangerous crime against children, arson of an occupied structure, armed robbery, first degree burglary, kidnapping, sexual conduct with a minor under fifteen, and child sex trafficking. A serious offense conviction bars the firearm application for ten years from your absolute discharge.

Your record	Route	Wait after discharge
One felony, no prior felony, neither dangerous nor serious	Automatic under A.R.S. § 13-907	None once restitution is paid
Two or more felonies, none dangerous or serious	Application under A.R.S. § 13-908 or set aside under A.R.S. § 13-905	None
Any serious offense	Application under A.R.S. § 13-910	Ten years
Any dangerous offense	No application on that case	Lifetime

Check the sentencing minute entry on every case for either label before you count anything else.

Do you need a separate order for each felony conviction?

Yes. Every felony conviction on your record makes you a prohibited possessor on its own, and a restoration order names one case. Restore three felonies out of four and the fourth still makes you a prohibited possessor. Possessing a firearm in that state is misconduct involving weapons under A.R.S. § 13-3102, a class 4 felony, and a new felony pushes every other case further out of reach.

In practice that means one application per case, filed in the superior court that handled that case. Three felonies in Maricopa County and one in Pima County means filings in two counties, each with its own judge and its own prosecutor response. We file them together as a set, so the judge in each county sees the same packet and the same story. Our guide to clearing old cases in more than one Arizona court walks through how the counties differ.

Does an undesignated class 6 felony count as a felony for gun rights?

Yes. A class 6 felony the judge left open is a misdemeanor for most purposes under A.R.S. § 13-604(A), and firearm rights sit on the short list of exceptions in A.R.S. § 13-604(B). Until a judge enters the designation order, Arizona treats that conviction as a felony for deciding whether you are allowed to possess a firearm. It also counts as a felony for the no prior felony test in A.R.S. § 13-907, so an open class 6 plus one later felony puts you on the application route.

The fix is a two-step. Designate the felony to a misdemeanor first, which takes it off the felony count entirely. Then file for firearm rights on whatever felonies remain. Designation by itself does not hand you a firearm order, so the second step still matters. Our post on what an undesignated class 6 felony is covers the designation request.

Do out-of-state or federal felonies count toward your Arizona record?

Out-of-state felonies count, and Arizona gives you a way to address them. Under A.R.S. § 13-908, a person whose felony came from another state’s court files the restoration application in the Arizona county where they live now, after finishing probation or receiving an absolute discharge. The judge applies the same two tests. An out-of-state conviction that would have been dangerous or serious under Arizona law gets the same bar or wait as an Arizona case.

A federal felony is a different problem, because federal law looks to the convicting jurisdiction and an Arizona order does not reach a federal conviction, and we treat that question on its own.

Count every conviction from every state before you decide which route you are on. A felony in Nevada from 2004 takes you off the automatic route in Arizona the same way a second Arizona felony does. It also changes where you file, since the Nevada case goes to the superior court in your home county and the Arizona cases go where they were sentenced.

What does the judge weigh when you have multiple felonies?

Time, pattern, and what you did with the years since. Restoration under A.R.S. § 13-908 and A.R.S. § 13-910 rests in the judge’s discretion, and neither section lists factors for the firearm decision. Judges borrow the set aside list in A.R.S. § 13-905(C), which names the nature of the offense, your compliance on probation or in prison, prior and later convictions, victim input and restitution, time since you finished the sentence, your age at conviction, and anything else the judge finds relevant.

Multiple felonies from one stretch of years read differently than felonies spread across decades. Three drug cases at 19, 20, and 21 followed by fifteen quiet years is a story judges hear often and grant often. A felony every four years with the last one recent is a harder request, and we tell you that before you pay. What moves the judge is proof. Pay stubs, a lease, a letter from an employer, paid restitution, and a clean record check go in the packet. Our post on treating record clearing like a job interview explains the pitch.

Does a set aside restore gun rights on every felony?

On most of them. A.R.S. § 13-905 lets a judge set aside the judgment of guilt after you finish the sentence, and subsection O states that the order restores the right to possess a firearm. Serious offenses are carved out of that subsection, and offenses involving a deadly weapon or serious physical injury are barred from a set aside altogether under subsection P. Each set aside names one case, so multiple felonies means multiple applications, and the judge may grant some and deny others. No clerk fee applies under A.R.S. § 13-905(B).

A set aside does not erase the conviction. The case stays public and still counts as a prior if you are ever charged again. Read A.R.S. § 13-905 and our page on the Arizona set aside. One date matters here. A set aside entered before 2022 did not restore firearm rights on its own, so an old set aside order in your drawer is not the order a gun dealer or a prosecutor looks for.

When are you allowed to file after your last felony?

The day of your final discharge. Final discharge under A.R.S. § 13-908 means you completed probation or received an absolute discharge from the Arizona Department of Corrections or another prison. There is no waiting period measured in years for a felony that was neither dangerous nor serious. Victim restitution must be paid in full, and a judge wants fines and fees current as well.

If you are still on probation, nothing files until it ends. A judge has the power under A.R.S. § 13-901 to end your probation early, and an early discharge starts your eligibility the day it is signed. Multiple felonies on concurrent probation terms usually end together, which puts every case in play at once. Felonies with separate end dates come into play one at a time, and we file each as it ripens rather than waiting for the last.

Does a marijuana felony count against you?

Not after an expungement. Arizona’s only true expungement law, A.R.S. § 36-2862, came from Prop 207 and covers possession, transport, and cultivation of marijuana under set amounts, plus paraphernalia tied to marijuana. When the judge grants the petition, the order vacates the judgment of conviction, expunges the records, and restores your civil rights, including the right to possess firearms, so long as nothing else on your record bars it.

That last clause is the catch for a reader with multiple felonies. The marijuana order restores the rights the marijuana case took. It does nothing about the burglary case next to it. A record with a 2009 marijuana felony and a 2012 theft felony needs the expungement on the first and a restoration order on the second. Start with our marijuana expungement page to see whether your charge fits the list.

How much does it cost to restore gun rights on multiple felonies?

$1,700 for the first case and $1,200 for each case after it. The fee is flat and includes every type of relief the case qualifies for when filed together, so a set aside, a firearm rights request, and a sealing on the same case ride on one fee. No court fees, no prosecutor fees, no hearing surcharge, and no travel charge for a county outside Phoenix. Two cases run $2,900 and three run $4,100. More than three, we price on the call.

Sign within 24 hours of your consultation and we take $200 off the total. Payment plans and financing are available. The full breakdown sits on our pricing page. Before you pay anything, we pull your record and tell you which cases carry a bar, which carry a wait, and which are ready to file. Search your Arizona record if you want to see the list first.

Why should you choose AZ Record Removal?

Arizona record clearing is the only work we do, and AZ Record Removal is owned and powered by Future First Criminal Law. Our founder, Zachary Divelbiss, carried six convictions of his own before he cleared them, so the question of how many is too many is one he has lived.

We file the applications, one per case, in every county where you have a conviction. We track each docket and tell you when the prosecutor responds and when the judge rules. We read your record before you pay and tell you which felonies carry a bar, which carry a wait, and which are ready now. We hold 250+ five-star Google reviews and a public list of case victories. Phones are answered around the clock at 602-900-6240, and consultations are scheduled during business hours.

What should you do next?

Count your felonies, then stop counting and start sorting. Pull the sentencing paperwork for each case and look for a dangerous finding or one of the serious offense labels. Every case without one of those labels is a case you are allowed to file on the day your sentence ends. Take our free eligibility quiz to see which route each case is on, then call 602-900-6240. We tell you what we would file, in which counties, and what it costs. No judge is required to grant a restoration, and a packet built for the judge who reads it is the work we do. Our firearm rights restoration page covers the full process.

If one of your convictions sits on the serious offense list, read how the 10-year rule for serious offenses works in Arizona before you count on a set aside to bring your gun rights back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does sealing your record restore your gun rights?

No. Sealing under A.R.S. § 13-911 takes the case out of the public court record and off most background checks. It does not restore the right to possess a firearm, and a sealed felony still makes you a prohibited possessor. The restoration order is a separate request, and we file both when a case qualifies. Sealing also leaves a Google result, a news story, or a mugshot site untouched.

Does a felony from thirty years ago still count?

Yes. A felony conviction never ages off your record on its own, and no number of quiet years restores firearm rights without an order. A 1994 felony makes you a prohibited possessor today the same way a 2024 felony does. Age helps you in front of the judge, since time since the offense is one of the things a judge weighs, and it hurts you nowhere.

How long does gun rights restoration take in Arizona?

The law sets no deadline for the judge. In our experience the ruling arrives within a few months of filing, and the prosecutor’s response is the usual source of delay. Multiple cases in one county often move together on one calendar. Cases in different counties move on separate clocks, so the last order sometimes lands a month or two after the first.

What happens if the judge denies restoration on one of your felonies?

The other orders stand, and you stay a prohibited possessor until the denied case is restored. The restoration sections set no refile wait the way the sealing law does, so you fix what the judge flagged, whether an unpaid balance, a recent arrest, or too little time, and apply again on that case. A denial on one case does not undo a grant on another.