Sanford police officer Timothy Smith holds up the gun that was used to kill Trayvon Martin.
Joe Burbank / AP
George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of shooting and killing 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 from the Department of Justice, and decided to put it 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."
Joe Burbank / AP
The 9mm handgun was posted on gunbroker.com by Zimmerman, where he calls it, "an American Firearm Icon."
"The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin," the description of the weapon reads.
The auction is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Thursday with a starting bid of $5,000.
"Now is your opportunity to own a piece of American history," he wrote.
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."
The shooting of Trayvon Martin sparked a national discussion about race and was one of the earliest recent 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."
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/27fywsG
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