George Zimmerman’s gun vanishes from auction website

The gun George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin is no longer visible on an online auction site.

“Sorry, but the item you have requested is no longer in the system,” said an error message on gunbroker.com Thursday afternoon. “If you would like to search for items, you may use the search box above or you may go to our home page.”

{mosads}Zimmerman, who was acquitted of murder, announced late Wednesday that he was selling the pistol used during his deadly 2012 encounter with the Florida teen.

“[It is] a piece of American history,” Zimmerman said in describing the weapon on the site. “The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin.”

Zimmerman said that portions of the proceeds from the weapon’s sale would go toward opposing the Black Lives Matter movement.

He said they would also be used to combat “anti-firearm rhetoric” from Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and end the career of Angela Corey, the special prosecutor who investigated Martin’s shooting.

Zimmerman late Wednesday defended his attempt to sell the gun, arguing that it is within his rights after having been exonerated.

“What I’ve decided to do is not cower,” he told Orlando television station WOFL. “I’m a free American. I can do what I want with my possessions.”

Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, shot Martin during an encounter with the unarmed black teenager in February 2012. He was charged with second-degree murder but eventually cleared of the charge in July 2013. The incident was one of the first involving violence against unarmed African-Americans that helped galvanize the Black Lives Matter movement.

Martin’s family refused to comment on Zimmerman’s auction, instead highlighting continued gun violence in America.

“The Trayvon Martin Foundation is committed to its mission of ending senseless gun violence in the U.S,” it said in a statement to WOFL. “This election season, we are laser-focused on furthering that mission. As such, the foundation has no comment on the actions of that person.” 

The television station reported late Wednesday that bidding on Zimmerman’s gun was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Thursday, reportedly starting at $5,000.