Looks like no one will buy George Zimmerman’s pistol. At least not from GunBroker.com.
Within seconds of his auction’s Thursday 11 a.m. ET start time, Zimmerman’s listing for the Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm handgun he used to shoot and kill Trayvon Martin disppeared from the firearms auction site.
The infamous 32-year-old Florida man posted the weapon for sale on Wednesday, with a starting bid set at $5,000 and an undisclosed “reserve price” for the winning bidder to meet.
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“I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American Firearm Icon,” Zimmerman wrote in the item’s description. “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... This is a piece of American History.”
He claimed the weapon was in hot demand: “Many have expressed interest in owning and displaying the firearm including The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.,” he claimed, “however, the offers were to use the gun in a fashion I did not feel comfortable with.”
The Smithsonian released a statement Thursday morning outright denying having ever considered acquiring the gun.
Proceeds from the sale, Zimmerman wrote, would have been used to “fight [Black Lives Matter] violence against Law Enforcement officers, ensure the demise of [Zimmerman’s prosecuting attorney] Angela Correy’s [sic] persecution career and Hillary Clinton’s anti-firearm rhetoric.”
Zimmerman punctuated the listing with the Latin phrase “Si vis pacem, para bellum,” meaning, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
The Atlanta-based firearms auction site has yet to comment on why the pistol was removed, and their Twitter account has gone private.
According to Zimmerman, hower, the site was not "prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm. It has now been placed with another auction house."
He has officially re-listed the gun with unitedgungroup.com—same description, opening bid, etc.
