Hey guy, I simply love the Gopherus agassizii and Gopherus morafkai tortoises as well.
Here is Arizona the laws state that you can not sell this species or collect them from the wild. AZ laws also state your allowed one per person per household. So if your located in AZ and have a family of four, your allowed 4 tortoises. The government does frown on captive breeding and tries to educate people that is not the way to save the Desert Tortoise. Hard to keep the males away from the females though
Also they can not be shipped accross state lines. The only way Lockness can get one is if he was to find an underground breeder near him and I think that would still be frowned on by the government. Again though, desert tortoises are a very rewarding species to work with.