"There's a lady here in town who's been making these things and giving them away as keychains. . . But people don't know it's against the law to carry them."

Floridians soon could get another choice of self-defense weaponry.

The legislature appears ready to lift a ban on slungshot, a weighted ball, usually lead, tied to the end of a rope by a knot that completely covers the lead ball.

The weapons were popular among 19th century street gangs and descended from a maritime tool used to cast lines. The production or carrying of slungshot as a concealed weapon has been illegal in Florida since 1868.

Read more at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.