Bids reached $65M Friday morning for the firearm used to kill Trayvon Martin. Bidding on the 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol began at $5,000 and quickly skyrocketed as Internet trolls appeared to drive the offers to astronomic levels. The auction was moved to the United Gun Group website after GunBroker.com removed the listing.
The gun was initially listed for sale Wednesday night on GunBroker.com but was removed moments before the auction was scheduled to begin on Thursday morning when the site received overwhelming attention and backlash. Zimmerman told the Orlando Sentinel that 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.” The firm maintains that Zimmerman never contacted anyone at the organization about the listing.
Hours later, the gun was listed on UnitedGunGroup.com before it was briefly pulled Thursday night. The organization issued a statement:
“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.”
Nevertheless, the auction was back up and running as of Friday morning and bids are being accepted for four more days. Marc Lamont Hill compared Zimmerman’s callous action to “O.J. Simpson (deciding) to start a line of steak knives.” After being acquitted of Martin’s murder in 2012, Zimmerman has continued to grab headlines as he appears to mock the incident which caused widespread racial tension. The listing is impeccably timed as gun control and the “Black Lives Matter” movement are at the forefront of the looming presidential election.
