The Arizona dildo law that people talk about does not exist. Arizona has no statute limiting how many sex toys you can own, and no law makes it a crime to buy or use one in private. The rules that are on the books apply to businesses that sell these products, to public displays that minors can see, and to sales to anyone under 18.
Where the Myth Came From
The rumor traces back to a bill, not a law. In the late 1980s the Arizona Legislature passed House Bill 2613, which would have made the commercial sale of “obscene devices” a felony and treated ownership of six or more devices as evidence of intent to sell. Both chambers passed it. Governor Rose Mofford vetoed it.
A follow-up bill the next year tried again with a five-device threshold. It died after the House amended it to swap the word “dildo” for “child molestation devices,” and the sponsor pulled the bill. Neither proposal became law. Arizona still has no numerical cap on how many sexual devices a person can own.
Private Ownership and Use Are Legal
No Arizona statute criminalizes buying, owning, or using a dildo or any other device made for sexual stimulation. The state’s criminal chapters on obscenity and sex offenses are aimed at commercial distribution, public display, and protecting minors. They do not reach private adult conduct with personal devices, and there is no limit on quantity or type.
The one possession-related criminal statute in this area is A.R.S. § 13-1429, which covers child sex dolls. That statute is narrow and is discussed below. Standard adult devices fall outside it.
Rules for Stores That Sell Sex Toys
Selling sex toys in Arizona is legal, but a store that specializes in them is treated as an “adult oriented business” under A.R.S. § 13-1422 and faces two kinds of restrictions.
The first is location. An adult oriented business cannot operate within one-quarter mile of a child care facility, school, public playground, recreational facility, residence, or place of worship. The distance is measured in a straight line from property line to property line. If one of those protected uses moves in after the business is already operating lawfully, the business is not in violation.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-1422 – Adult Oriented Businesses; Location; Hours of Operation; Injunction; Classification; Definitions
The second is hours. Adult bookstores, video stores, cabarets, theaters, escort agencies, and nude model studios must close between 1:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and between 1:00 a.m. and noon on Sunday. Cities and counties can be stricter than these state rules, but not more lenient.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-1422 – Adult Oriented Businesses; Location; Hours of Operation; Injunction; Classification; Definitions
When a Sale Crosses Into Obscenity
A sex toy is not automatically obscene. But if a product or its packaging meets Arizona’s legal definition of obscene, selling or distributing it becomes a Class 5 felony under A.R.S. § 13-3502. That statute also covers possessing an obscene item with intent to sell.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3502 – Production, Publication, Sale, Possession and Presentation of Obscene Items; Classification
Arizona’s obscenity test in A.R.S. § 13-3501 follows the framework from Miller v. California (1973). All three parts must be met:
- An average person applying contemporary Arizona standards would find the item as a whole appeals to a shameful or unhealthy interest in sex.
- The item depicts or describes sexual conduct in a way Arizona law considers patently offensive.
- The item as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
A typical device sold in ordinary retail packaging is very unlikely to satisfy all three prongs. The risk climbs with graphic packaging, imagery, or marketing whose only purpose is shock.
Public Display of Explicit Material
Even a product that is legal to sell can create a separate crime if it is displayed where the public, including minors, can see it. A.R.S. § 13-3507 makes it a Class 6 felony to knowingly place “explicit sexual material” where it is easily visible from a public street, from neighboring property, or from any spot where minors are part of the general public.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3507 – Public Display of Explicit Sexual Materials; Classification; Definitions
The statute defines “explicit sexual material” broadly to include novelty devices, photographs, figures, and other items whose appearance depicts genitalia, nudity, or sexual activity in a way harmful to minors. “Public display” covers billboards, window displays, vending machines, display racks, and showcases. Material with serious educational, literary, artistic, political, or scientific value is excluded. For a storefront, a novelty device placed in a window visible from the sidewalk is the kind of situation the statute is aimed at.
Selling or Giving Sexual Devices to Minors
This is where Arizona is strictest. Under A.R.S. § 13-3506, a person who knows the character of an item and recklessly provides, sells, gives, lends, shows, or distributes anything “harmful to minors” to someone under 18 commits a Class 4 felony.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3506 – Furnishing Harmful Items to Minors; Applicability; Classification
Whether an item is “harmful to minors” is judged by A.R.S. § 13-3501: an adult applying Arizona standards for what is suitable for minors, asking whether the item appeals to prurient interest, portrays sexual content in a patently offensive way for minors, and lacks serious value for minors. A novelty device with explicit imagery or packaging can meet that definition even when the device by itself would not.
The statute does not apply to items transmitted over the internet, so this felony exposure is concentrated on in-person and brick-and-mortar transactions.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3506 – Furnishing Harmful Items to Minors; Applicability; Classification
Child Sex Dolls Are a Separate Category
The one place Arizona does criminalize possession is A.R.S. § 13-1429. Intentionally possessing an anatomically correct doll, mannequin, or robot that resembles a child under twelve and is intended for sexual use is a Class 4 felony. Manufacturing, selling, distributing, advertising, shipping, or importing such a doll with intent to distribute is also a Class 4 felony. Owning two or more supports a legal inference of intent to traffic.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-1429 – Possessing, Trafficking or Importing a Child Sex Doll
This statute is narrow by design. It does not touch adult devices, and it does not create any general possession offense for sex toys.
Ordering From Out of State
Arizona law governs conduct inside the state, but shipping brings federal law into play. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1462, it is a federal crime to knowingly use a common carrier or interstate shipping service to transport obscene material, including any “article or thing” that meets the federal obscenity standard. A first conviction carries up to five years in prison; later convictions carry up to ten.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1462 – Importation or Transportation of Obscene Matters
The same three-part Miller test applies federally. Mainstream sex toys shipped in ordinary packaging do not meet it, and federal enforcement is aimed at large-scale commercial distribution of genuinely obscene material rather than at individual buyers. For an Arizona resident ordering a device online, the practical risk is negligible.