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Zimmerman told a news station that it is time to move past the firearm. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

George Zimmerman(Photo: Seminole County Public Affairs via AP)

George Zimmerman tried a second time Thursday toauction off the firearm he used to kill 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, but both gun-selling websites yanked the listing beforebidding was to beginon what Zimmerman described as a"piece of history."

A statement posted on the first websiteGunBroker.comsaid listings are user generated, and that the company reserved the right to reject any listing at itsdiscretion.

"Mr. Zimmerman never contacted anyone at GunBroker.com prior to or after the listing was created and no one at (the website) has any relationship with Zimmerman," the company wrote in its statement.

It added, "We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving."

Thelisting, which gotmore than 185,000 views, wasreplaced at mid-morning Thursdayby a message that said,without elaboration,"Sorry, but the item you have requested is no longer in the system."

Zimmerman told the Orlando Sentinel that GunBroker.comwas not "prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm. It has now been placed with another auction house."

The new listing forthe Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm firearm was postedonunitedgungroup.com. That site apparently went down a few minutes later.

United Gun Group said in a statement Thursday night they pulled Zimmerman's listing from the site because the auction is not in the organization's best interest.

Our mission is to esteem the 2nd amendment and provide a safe and secure platform for firearms enthusiasts and law-abiding citizens; our association with Mr. Zimmerman does not help us achieve that objective," the organization wrote.

Zimmerman wrotein both listings thatthat he was"honored and humbled" to announce the sale of the weapon and set the bidding to start at $5,000. Similar firearmsnormally sellon the site for around $200.

"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," he wrote.

Zimmerman, 32, noted the Justice Department returned the weapon to him recentlyand it still bearsthe case numberwritten on it in silver permanent marker.

"This is a piece of American History," he wrote. "It has been featured in several publications and in current University text books."

Zimmerman, then a neighborhood watch volunteer,shot and killed Trayvonin February2012,in a confrontation as the unarmed teenager washeading back to a relative's house in Sanford, Fla.,after buying snacks at a convenience store.

A juryfound Zimmerman, who alleged that Trayvonwas trying to bash his head on the pavement during a struggle,not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father, issued a statementThursdaythrough his lawyer, Benjamin Crump, saying a foundation in his son's name is focusing onending senseless gun violence and "has no commenton the actions of that person that murdered Trayvon."

In his listing, Zimmerman saidhe hadturned down several offers for the notorious firearm because the buyers planned touse it"in a fashion I did not feel comfortable with."

He claimed in his auction listing that the "Smithsonian Museum" in Washington, D.C., had expressed interest in buying the firearm, however, the Smithsonian Institution said Thursday on Twitter,"Wehave never expressed interest in collecting George Zimmermans firearm, and have no plans to ever collect or display it in any museums."

Instead, Zimmerman saidhe plannedto use the proceeds from the sale of the gun which he calledan "American Firearm Icon"to fight "Black Lives Matter" violence against law enforcement officers and to counter"Hillary Clinton's anti-firearm rhetoric." He also said money would be used to "ensure the demise of Angela Correy's (sic) persecution career." Corey was the special prosecutor appointed to investigate Martin's death.

In a conversation with Fox35 in Orlando, Zimmermansaid if he doesn't sell the firearm, it willgo in a safe and "never be used or seen again."

Zimmerman, who has had several run-ins with the law since the Martinshooting, including domestic abuse chargesand an alleged road rage incident,told Fox35that he has had death threats while in hiding and that it is"time to move past the firearm."

"What I have decided to do is not cower," he told the TV station. "I'm a free American. I can do what I want with mypossessions."

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Originally posted here:
George Zimmerman's auction of Trayvon Martin gun back on

After it was halted by two websites on Thursday, the auction for the gun that George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin was back up on one website Friday morning. USA TODAY

This file photo image provided by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office taken on June 2, 2012 shows George Zimmerman as he poses for a mugshot photo following his surrender to authorities at John E. Polk Correctional Facility (JEPCF) in Sanford, Florida.(Photo: HANDOUT, AFP/Getty Images)

Bidding in an online auction for the gun George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin was upto$65million Friday morning as Internet trolls appeared to drive the offersto astronomiclevels.

Bidding on the 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol began at $5,000 and reached more than $65 million earlyFriday.Thetop bidder at one point used the screen name Racist McShootface. That account was later deleted. Another bidder used the name Tamir Rice, which is the name of a 12-year-old boy shot by police in Cleveland while carrying a toy gun.

The most recent bid topping $65 million is by someone identified as Craig Bryant.

The United Gun Group website began hosting the auction after another website, GunBroker.com, halted bidding. ButUnited Gun Group briefly pulled the listing Thursday night, sayingthe auction was not in the organization's best interest.

Our mission is to esteem the 2nd amendment and provide a safe and secure platform for firearms enthusiasts and law-abiding citizens; our association with Mr. Zimmerman does not help us achieve that objective," the organization wrote.

However, the auction was back up andrunning on the companys website early Friday and the bid clock says it will be open for four more days.

GunBroker.com stopped the auction on its site Thursday and said Zimmerman never contacted anyone at the firm about the listing.

USA TODAY

George Zimmerman's auction of Trayvon Martin gun taken down a second time

"We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving," it said in a statement.

Zimmermantold theOrlando Sentinelthat GunBroker.comwas not "prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm. It has now been placed with another auction house."

Zimmerman told Orlando TV station WOFL that the gun was returned to him by the U.S. Justice Department after he was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in 17-year-old Martin'sdeath in 2012.

Zimmerman, 32, saidhe plannedto use the proceeds from the sale of the gun, which he described as "an American Firearm Icon," to fight "Black Lives Matter" violence against law enforcement officers and to counter"Hillary Clinton's anti-firearm rhetoric." He also said money would be used to "ensure the demise of Angela Correy's (sic) persecution career." Corey was the special prosecutor appointed to investigate Martin's death.

The listing ended withif you want peace, prepare for war in Latin.

USA TODAY

After death of son, mother stands with Black Lives Matter

Zimmerman, then a neighborhood watch volunteer,shot and killedMartin in February2012,in a confrontation as the unarmed teenager washeading back to a relative's house inSanford, Fla.,after buying snacks at a convenience store.

Tracy Martin, the boy's father,issued a statementThursdaythrough his lawyer, Benjamin Crump, saying a foundation in his son's name is focusing onending senseless gun violence and "has no commenton the actions of that person that murdered Trayvon."

Zimmerman has had several run-ins with the law since Martin'sshooting, including domestic abuse chargesand an alleged road rage incident.Ina conversation with Fox35in Orlando, he said if he doesn't sell the firearm, it willgo in a safe and "never be used or seen again."

A file picture date June 25 2013 shows the hands of Diana Smith, crime scene technician for the Sanford Police Department, showing the jury Zimmerman's gun, which was collected as evidence at the crime scene, during Zimmerman's trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Florida.(Photo: GARY W. GREEN / POOL, EPA)

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Original post:
Bids in George Zimmerman gun auction up to $65M

George Zimmerman has reportedly said he's sold the pistol he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin during an altercation.

Zimmerman told Las Vegas TV station KTNV on Friday that he's accepting a bid for $250,000 after an auction for the gun closed this week.

A Daytona Beach, Florida, bar owner told the News-Journal newspaper that Zimmerman had accepted his bid for $150,000 but instead backed out for the higher bid. Denny Honeycutt told the paper that Zimmerman said the buyer was a woman who was giving the gun as a birthday present to her son.

"I thought he was a man of his word," Honeycutt told the paper.

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Sanford police officer Timothy Smith holds up the gun that was used to kill Trayvon Martin while testifying during George Zimmerman's murder trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Florida, June 28, 2013.

Reuters/Joe Burbank/Pool

On Wednesday, the former neighborhood watch volunteer - who was acquitted in the 2012 slaying - said on his blog that the sale was successful, though he gave no details and said the buyer may choose to remain anonymous.

Details of the auction are unclear. The website believed to be the venue, United Gun Group, later said in a tweet that there were two auctions running simultaneously, one for pre-qualifed buyers and a "fake" one for the public. Bids on the fake site visible to the public went as high as $138,900 before it was deleted about midday Wednesday.

Zimmerman had set the minimum bid at $100,000. Zimmerman had told Orlando, Florida, TV station WOFL that the pistol was returned to him by the U.S. Justice Department, which took it after he was acquitted in Martin's 2012 shooting death.

Critics had called the auction an insensitive move to profit the slaying.

Zimmerman, who identifies as Hispanic and is now 32, has said he was defending himself when he killed Martin, 17, in a gated community near Orlando. Martin, who lived in Miami with his mother, was visiting his father at the time.

Zimmerman's acquittal sparked protests and a national debate about race relations. The Justice Department later decided not to prosecute Zimmerman on civil rights charges.

2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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George Zimmerman reportedly sells gun he used to kill Florida ...

Amid a storm of outrage and criticism, George Zimmerman on Monday explained publicly for the first time why he auctioned off the pistol he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin during an altercation in 2012.

The former neighborhood-watch volunteer, who was acquitted of second-degree murder in July of 2013, said he auctioned off his 9-mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol for $250,000. He promised to use some of the proceeds to push back against the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter, which has risen in popularity in the wake of the deaths of Martin and other unarmed black victims of gun and police violence.

A Black Lives Matter community Facebook page has over 130,000 "likes" and uses as its cover page an illustration of an activist wearing a black hood, symbolic of the protests that erupted after 17-year-old Martin was killed by Zimmerman near his Florida home.

Speaking Monday to ABC Las Vegas affiliate KTNV-TV via Skype between puffs from a thick cigar, Zimmerman struck a pose of defiance, discussing the process of auctioning the gun and accusing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton of pandering to the black community to get votes.

"I was tired of Hillary Clinton's anti-gun rhetoric," Zimmerman said of his rationale for auctioning off the pistol. "She has been stumping around for a false campaign for the Trayvon Martin Foundation. She lied, saying that I killed him when he was walking home in his daddy's neighborhood. Which if anyone watched more than seven minutes of the trial, they would know that is false."

The unarmed Martin was visiting his father's fiancee's neighborhood and was returning from a convenience store before the deadly encounter with Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense.

Zimmerman said he would use some of the proceeds to help police who were targeted by violence.

"I am going to donate to officers such as the deputy in Texas that was shot in the head at point-blank range for no other reason than he was in uniform," Zimmerman said, referring to Alden Clopton, a police officer who was shot four times ambush-style and survived.

"No one can replace his life. No one can replace the service he was doing to his community. My goal is to attempt to make his family as whole as possible again."

The gun's auctioneer did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for confirmation of the sale price.

Zimmerman has been savaged by critics from the moment he announced his desire to auction off the pistol. Shaun King, a prominent civil rights activist and surrogate of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, penned an op-ed in The New York Daily News calling Zimmerman "injustice in the flesh."

"He is the living, breathing, walking, talking personification of injustice. He is injustice in the flesh. It nauseates us. It infuriates us. It takes us somewhere, emotionally, where we don't want to go, but we can't help it," King wrote.

This is not the first time Zimmerman has provoked outrage since being acquitted of murdering Martin. In 2015 he generated headlines for retweeting an image of Martin's corpse.

Continue reading here:
George Zimmerman Explains His Rationale for Auctioning ...

George Zimmerman sat down for a lengthy half-hour interview with Las Vegas news station KTNV about the furor over his decision to auction off the gun he used to fatally shoot Trayvon Martin in self-defense.

And boy, was this quite something (and not just because he smoked a cigar during various points of the interview).

He ranted about the gun website that pulled the auction before going off on Hillary Clinton (saying repeatedly shes lying about him), the #BlackLivesMatter movement (pansies), and Barack Hussein Obama, whom Zimmerman called a racist several times.

He said that the president allowed the Black Panthers to put a bounty on his head, but the worst that happened was a white guy tried to kill him.

Zimmerman believes that Obama is igniting racial tensions in America, aided by Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the attorney who represented Martins family (who Zimmerman said capitalized off of Trayvons death).

At one point during the interview, Zimmerman likened himself to the Founding Fathers and said, I could do as our forefathers: put it on the line and say I want to do whatever it takes to make this country right again.

You can watch the entire interview above, via KTNV.

[image via screengrab]

Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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George Zimmerman Smokes Cigar, Rips Hillary, 'Racist' Obama ...