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8 year oldGeorge Zimmerman, the man acquitted in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, says he is auctioning the gun he used to kill the unarmed black teen.
Zimmerman told Fox 35 in Orlando he had recently had the gun returned to him f-rom the Department of Justice, and decided to put it up for sale.
“I thought it was time to move past the firearm,” Zimmerman told the station. “If I sell it, and it sells, I move past it.”
The auction was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Thursday with a starting bid of $5,000 but the item had been removed f-rom gunbroker.com.
“Sorry, but the item you have requested is no longer in the system,” read the error message on the website.
The 9mm handgun was originally posted on gunbroker.com by Zimmerman, whe-re he called the weapon “an American Firearm Icon.”
“The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack f-rom Trayvon Martin,” the description of the weapon reads.
“Now is your opportunity to own a piece of American history,” he added.
The sale wont be the first time that Zimmerman has looked to online bidding to make money.
The 32-year-old was acquitted in July 2013 of the deadly shooting, and later that year sold a painting on eBay for more than $100,000.
Zimmerman wrote that a portion of the sale’s proceeds would be used to “fight BLM [Black Lives Matter] violence against Law Enforcement officers” and fight Hillary Clinton’s “anti-firearm rhetoric.”
Trayvon Martin’s death sparked a national discussion about race and was one of the first in a series of shootings of young black males that sparked protests in the country.
Asked by Fox 35 about critics who would see his actions as “wrong,” Zimmerman said, “I couldn’t care less.”
“They’re not going to be bidding on it,” he said. “I’m a free American. I can do what I like with my possessions.”
Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin, had no comment on Zimmerman’s actions.
“The Trayvon Martin Foundation is committed to its mission of ending senseless gun violence in the United States,” Tracy Martin wrote in a statement. “We are laser focused on furthering that mission. As such, the foundation has no comment on the actions of [George Zimmerman].”
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