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Self Defense

Arizona Self-Defense Laws: What You Can and Can't Do

The immediacy, proportionality, and reasonableness tests behind Arizona's justification statutes — in plain English.

1HourAZCCWClass Editorial Team 11 min readLast updated June 5, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Arizona is stand-your-ground — no duty to retreat.
  • Force must be immediate, proportional, and reasonable.
  • Verbal provocation alone does not justify force.

The justification framework

Arizona's justification statutes (ARS §13-404 through §13-411) permit force when a reasonable person would believe it is immediately necessary to protect against unlawful physical force.

Deadly force

Deadly force is justified only when a reasonable person would believe it is immediately necessary to defend against another's use or attempted use of deadly force.

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