Saner minds have prevailed: George Zimmerman is not selling the 9mm handgun he used to kill Trayvon Martin — at least not through a public online auction.
Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain acquitted of murder charges in the 2012 shooting death of Martin, 17, was planning to auction off the gun simply because it’s his personal property — and to push back against the Black Lives Matter movement.
The pistol was set to be sold on gunbroker.com where the page was reportedly viewed 185,000 times. Bidding for the gun was to begin at $5,000.
“Sorry, but the item you have requested is no longer in the system,” according to the website. They issued a statement after the auction was taken down:
Late last night, George Zimmerman created a listing on our web site for the gun from the Trayvon Martin case four years ago. Mr. Zimmerman alerted news organizations that began reporting on the listing first thing this morning.
Listings on the GunBroker.com web site are user-generated, exactly like social media posts. Mr. Zimmerman never contacted anyone at GunBroker.com prior to or after the listing was created and no one at GunBroker.com has any relationship with Zimmerman. Our site rules state that we reserve the right to reject listings at our sole discretion, and have done so with the Zimmerman listing.
We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving.
The site’s Twitter and Facebook pages have disappeared since the auction was cancelled.
Selling the gun in such a public marketplace was a dreadful act by a dreadful man who seems to have no moral compass and disrespects the entire Martin family. Zimmerman’s twisted idea comes as racial hatred in this country has become even more apparent with the unsettling rise of Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
And I’m not sure what’s worse: Waiting to see if another bigot eventually took possession of the infamous weapon or leaving the gun in Zimmerman’s hands, which, by the way, is still operable and ready to fire.
“The firearm is fully functional as the attempts by the Department of Justice on behalf of B. Hussein Obama to render the firearm inoperable were thwarted by my phenomenal Defense Attorney,” Zimmerman said.
“The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin,” he wrote on the auction site. ”
So for now, Zimmerman still owns the gun and another auction site agreed to sell it, but that site is currently offline.
“Many have expressed interest in owning and displaying the firearm including The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.,” Zimmerman said. “This is a piece of American History.”
We have never expressed interest in collecting George Zimmerman’s firearm, and have no plans to ever collect or display it in any museums
— Smithsonian (@smithsonian) May 12, 2016
I agree. The gun is a profound piece of American history because it underscores the racism that still permeates this republic. It’s a stark reminder of ongoing racial profiling and how some whites who resort to gun violence still see Black men as criminals, even when they are innocent, law-abiding, unarmed citizens like Trayvon Martin.
“I recently received it [the gun] back from the Department of Justice. They took it after my trial, after I was exonerated,” Zimmerman told Fox 35 Orlando. “What I’ve decided to do is not cower. I’m a free American. I can do what I want with my possessions.”
Legally, Zimmerman is right; he can do what he wants with his personal items, which includes selling the gun. But is it the right thing to do? No. The gun should be locked away forever.
Zimmerman was asked what he thought of people who opposed the online auction: “They’re not going to be bidding on it, so I couldn’t care less about them,” he said.
Maybe the opposition successfully blocked Zimmerman’s auction. I hope so. And just for the record, I couldn’t care less about Zimmerman.
What do you think?
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