George
Zimmerman, who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and was
acquitted of all charges, is selling the gun he says was used in the
2012 shooting. This is far from Zimmerman's first controversy since his
acquittal in 2013. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
Zimmerman initially posted the 9mm pistol on GunBroker.com on Wednesday night, more than four years after he shot and killed Martin, an unarmed black teenager.
“I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American Firearm Icon,” read Zimmerman’s description of the gun, a Kel-Tec PF-9. “The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012.”
But on Thursday morning, that listing vanished from Gunbroker, which later said in a statement that it wanted “no part” in the sale of a firearm whose use in the fatal 2012 shooting in Florida sparked a nationwide debate over race relations and “stand your ground” laws.
“We reserve the right to reject listings at our sole discretion, and have done so with the Zimmerman listing,” the statement read. “We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving.”
Undeterred, Zimmerman found a new place to sell the weapon.
“Unfortunately, Gun broker was not prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm,” he said in an email to The Post on Thursday. “It has now been placed with another auction house.”
Todd Underwood, owner of UnitedGunGroup.com, confirmed Thursday afternoon that Zimmerman’s gun is now listed on his site, which Underwood described as a “pro-Second Amendment community” created this year after Facebook banned private gun sales.
“I talked to George Zimmerman earlier today and told him that as long as all laws are being followed, he can list the gun on our site,” Underwood told The Post. “I don’t support it, I don’t condone it, I don’t have anything against it. It’s his property, it’s his decision.”
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Martin in Sanford, but was acquitted by a Florida jury in July 2013.
“Why shouldn’t he be selling it?!” Underwood said when asked about outrage sparked by Zimmerman’s auction plans. “Here’s the thing, parents lost their child and as a father it breaks my heart to even contemplate going through what they went through.
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Zimmerman said in the listing that proceeds of the auction will be used to “fight [Black Lives Matter] violence against Law Enforcement officers” and to “ensure the demise of Angela Correy’s persecution career and Hillary Clinton’s anti-firearm rhetoric,” though he hasn’t described how that would happen.
Corey, whose name was misspelled, is the special prosecutor who was appointed by then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) to investigate Martin’s shooting death.
An attorney for Martin’s family said Thursday that Zimmerman’s plan to auction the gun was “insulting and disrespectful.”
“It is insulting to this family that he would decide that he would sell the gun that he killed their child with,” Daryl D. Parks, one of the attorneys for the family, told The Washington Post. “Think about what that means: This is a gun that took a child’s life, and now he wants to make money off of it.”
On both auction websites, Zimmerman claimed the case number from the trial is written on the gun in permanent marker and that “The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.” has expressed interest in “owning and displaying the firearm,” though he did not specify which museum.
The Smithsonian Institution, which operates 19 museums, refuted that claim Thursday morning, before the gun disappeared from the auction site.
“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 wrote, “I recognize the purchaser’s ownership and right to do with the firearm as they wish.”
He closed the description with si vis pacem para bellum, which means “If you want peace, prepare for war” in Latin.
Bidding opens at $5,000.
Police officer Timothy Smith holds up the gun that was used to kill Trayvon Martin in this 2013 photo, taken during the George Zimmerman trial in Florida. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/EPA file)
He told the Orlando station that he had received death threats since listing the firearm on Gunbroker.com but decided to continue with the sale anyway.
“What I’ve decided to do is not cower,” he said. “I’m a free American. I can do what I want with my possessions.”
Parks, the attorney for Martin’s relatives, said Thursday that “the family does not want to dignify this with a response. Everyone agrees this is insulting and disrespectful. Without question, as time passes, we are seeing more and more the real person — who George Zimmerman really is versus who he was portrayed to be by his defense team.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) criticized Zimmerman’s decision to sell the gun in a statement issued shortly before the sale was halted then moved to the second auction site.
“Trayvon Martin’s cold-blooded killer should be in prison,” Jeffries said. “Instead, he is trying to profit from the stunning miscarriage of justice that occurred three years ago in a Florida courtroom. It should shock the conscience of every decent American that this man is peddling his murder weapon for sale. America must reject this merchant of death once and for all.”
This isn’t the first time Zimmerman has caused controversy by selling a personal item. In August, he teamed up with Florida Gun Supply — a store that had publicly declared itself a “Muslim-free zone” — to sell prints of a painting by Zimmerman depicting a Confederate battle flag. It included the inscription, “The 2nd protects our 1st,” presumably referring to the Second and First amendments.
This post has been updated.
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