Policemen with lots of training and many range hours often will still miss the broad side of a barn; whereas a cute little girl with a bow in her hair who has never held a gun before might be able to plant five rounds in a tight shot grouping at dog-tag elevation.
As far as felony convictions go, Arizona has some arcane rules about gun rights restoration for some felons, but it is not impossible. Most ex-cons probably know if they can, and want to, get their gun rights back. And if the police catch them with an illegal gun, they are in deep kimchi.
Your comments are dead on and worth repeating.
The question that needs to be asked of the legislooters in each state, is "Are citizens of Arizona, Vermont, and Alaska more trustworthy than those of ______ (insert your state here)"
Personally, I see Arizona as the legislative target for other states as far as gun laws go. It is large enough, populous enough, it has a big city and plenty of rural, so it is very comparable to most states.
Yet Arizonans can carry open if the want, concealed if they want, in their car, in most buildings, etc. And if anything, it just encourages people to be more polite.