After a tumultuous ride, George Zimmerman’s auction of the gun he used to shoot Trayvon Martin is back on.
Zimmerman originally posted the 9mm he used to kill the black teen on GunBroker.com with the auction set to begin at 11 a.m. Thursday. The bidding was to start at $5,000, but just before the auction began, the page was taken down. Now, Zimmerman has put the gun back up for sale at unitedgungroup.com.
Zimmerman told the Orlando Sentinel the first website was not “prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm. It has now been placed with another auction house.”
The first website said it took the auction down because it wanted no part in the “publicity it was receiving.”
“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,” GunBroker.com said in a statement. “Our site rules state that we reserve the right to reject listings at our sole discretion, and have done so with the Zimmerman listing.”
Zimmerman promised in the listing a portion of the proceeds would go to fight Black Lives Matter violence against police.
“Prospective bidders, I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American Firearm Icon,” the listing reads. “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. Many have expressed interest in owning and displaying the firearm including The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. This is a piece of American History. It has been featured in several publications and in current University text books.”
The Smithsonian has since issued a statement saying it’s not interested in the weapon. Zimmerman was acquitted in the racially charged case in 2013. The acquittal sparked protests and accusations of a racially biased justice system and helped fuel the beginnings of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Zimmerman said in the listing that the Department of Justice returned the gun to him.
Zimmerman’s listing ends with the phrase in Latin, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
Send tips to casey@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. Follow Casey on Twitter and like him on Facebook.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.