What Sorts of Weapons Might George Zimmerman Now Carry?
by Bob Schwartz
Robert Zimmerman says that his brother George will now be “looking over his shoulder.” There has been plenty of angry and overheated rhetoric aimed at George Zimmerman in the wake of the not guilty verdict in the case of his killing Trayvon Martin. Whether or not he needs to be in fear of his safety and life, that is something he is going to have to reasonably decide—a decision he has experience with.
In case he does decide he needs extra protection, Florida statute gives him lots of options:
Title XLVI, Chapter 790
WEAPONS AND FIREARMS
790.06 License to carry concealed weapon or firearm.—
(1) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is authorized to issue licenses to carry concealed weapons or concealed firearms to persons qualified as provided in this section. Each such license must bear a color photograph of the licensee. For the purposes of this section, concealed weapons or concealed firearms are defined as a handgun, electronic weapon or device, tear gas gun, knife, or billie, but the term does not include a machine gun as defined in s. 790.001(9). (emphasis added)
So now that George has gotten his handgun back, he doesn’t have to stop there. He is free to add a bigger handgun, a Taser, a tear gas gun, a knife or billie club—or all of them. This is Florida, right on the edge of the subtropics, so it is almost literally a jungle out there. If he chooses not to stay in Florida, which he might deem a good idea, he may feel more comfortable out West, where there are states with conceal carry laws even more accepting of the Zimmerman philosophy, and where standing your ground while armed to the teeth is historically a way of life on the frontier. He might begin a new career writing cowboy fiction, where phrases like “you got me!” would not be out of place.
That was the 19th century, of course, and this is the 21st, but unfortunately for the sometimes glacial advance of civilization, some things never seem to change. If anything, they can look like they are moving backward.
Bob Schwartz 
It’s times like these that I feel like I’m sitting right in the middle of a vortex leading to the past. I really believe that there are places like that all over the world and Florida is one of them. Your point’s well-made.
Thanks. Every society has a different and sometimes strange relationship with its past: forget it, reject it, try to learn from it, apologize for it, embrace it, idealize it, etc. America seems to be going through all these at once; ironic, since compared to all of the other leading nations in the world, America has hardly any past at all. But with the meteoric rise of America, the assumption by some is that everything America did and decided is pure gold, immune to change and worthy of allegiance. What makes it hardest of all is a dysfunctional federalism (dysfunctional in the face of 21st century realities), which holds overall national progress in vital areas such as gun violence hostage to the less advanced/more backward inclinations of some states.