(AllHipHop News) Yesterday, in an interview with WOFL Fox 35 Orlando, George Zimmerman announced that he currently has plans to sell the gun that he used on February 26, 2012 to kill unarmed African American teenager Trayvon Martin. In a highly controversial ruling rendered on July 13, 2013, a Florida jury acquitted Zimmerman of all charges after he successfully plead to having killed the 17 year old in self-defense.
In 2012, Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch coordinator at The Retreat at Twin Lakes, the gated community in Sanford, Florida where Martin was temporarily staying at the time that he was identified and targeted by Zimmerman as dangerous and subsequently killed.
As per his interview with WOFL Fox 35, and as has also been reported by many AP news sources, Zimmerman’s plans to auction the gun are connected to his belief that the weapon is an “iconic piece of American history”, as stated in the ad that Zimmerman placed yesterday on a gun auctioning website as reported by CNN: “I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American firearm icon,” the ad states, continuing, “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.” The starting bid for the gun, which Zimmerman recently received back from the Department of Justice upon exoneration, is $5000.00.
Zimmerman has also further stated that he intends to donate a percentage of his proceeds from the sale of the gun to “fight” violence against law enforcement officers specifically from groups like Black Lives Matter as a “free American” who does not intend to “cower” as a reaction to death threats that Zimmerman claims to have received since posting the ad.
However, in a recent twist for Zimmerman, as reported a few hours ago by RawStory, GunBroker.com, the site where Zimmerman had placed the ad, has cancelled the auction that was set to go live for bidders this morning. The listing, as reported by CNN has mysteriously disappeared.
As for Trayvon Martin’s family, when they were initially asked to comment on Zimmerman’s stated intention to attempt to sell the weapon that ended Trayvon’s life, they chose not to comment on “the actions of that person” choosing instead to continue via the Trayvon Martin Foundation, to maintain a “laser focus” on the political battle to change the laws that still would continue to allow George Zimmerman and others to easily purchase guns and enact gun violence on fellow American citizens with insufficient legal consequence, punishment or legal responsibility.