Zimmerman's Gun Auction - A "Piece of American History"

[Shiranu]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/zimmermans-gun-used-kill-trayvon-martin-temporarily-pulled-auction-n574116

An auction listing for the gun George Zimmerman used to kill Florida teenager Trayvon Martin has been removed online after a slew of apparently bogus bids.
It's the second time the listing has been taken down. This time, it was following questionable offers from bidders â€" such as one who went by the handle "Racist McShootFace" â€" topping $65 million Friday on UnitedGunGroup.com./

The listing for the 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol described the gun as a "piece of American History." In the post, Zimmerman, 32, said he had recently gotten the firearm back from the Justice Department and had been contacted by people who wanted to buy it.

"However, the offers were to use the gun in a fashion I did not feel comfortable with," he wrote.

Neither Zimmerman nor his attorney have commented about reactions to the pistol being put up for auction, a move heavily criticized on social media.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, said Thursday that "it's just shocking" the weapon was going to be sold.

"Somebody's actually talking about profiting from the loss of their child and it's just very hurtful to them," he told NBC News.

Zimmerman filed a defamation lawsuit against NBC News in 2012. A judge dismissed that claim in 2014. Zimmerman appealed, but a judge ruled against him.

I am no longer annoyed by his antics, nor overly upset by them. I feel bad for him, the guy has issues. It's only shameful that we didn't get him the help he needed before or after he murdered a child. I guess what I really don't get, and why I bother to post this, is why we as a society feel that the idolization of murderers, wife beaters and other people who were never taught self-control or have something wrong in the head is more important than fixing these people.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"However, the offers were to use the gun in a fashion I did not feel comfortable with," he wrote.

Shooting people, he was comfortable with that. I can only suppose someone wanted to  use it as a My Little Ponyâ,,¢ dildo proto-type. 

[SGOS]

You meet a woman and want to have a relationship with her.  The first thing you do is take her home, and tell her, "I want to show you something."  Take her into your den, bedroom, closet, or wherever your secret hiding place is, take out your Zimmerman gun, and tell her what makes it so valuable to you.  She'll jump in the sack with you right there, because you've shown yourself to be a man of great substance and impeccable tastes.

[marom1963]

He should shoot himself w/that gun. Then his widow should be able to auction it as a gun w/2 bodies on it. One that should be alive - and one that shouldn't.

[Baruch]

Glorifying vigilantes ... not good.

If he had auctioned it to give the proceeds to Treyvon's family ... that would at least be half nice.  The gun should then be donated to the FBI collection ... next to Dillinger's gun.

[FaithIsFilth]

Good for Zimmerman. The shooting was justified and this gun is only a "piece of American history" because of the dumbass corporate media that was obsessed with this non-story. Zim may as well take advantage of the stupid shit the media spews by making himself some money. And no, Treyvon's family doesn't need a dime of it. They've gotten plenty of big donations. They will be fine.

[Shiranu]

Lol okay.

[KUSA]

There were a lot of bad choices made by Zimmerman leading up to the moment he pulled the trigger. However, when he was getting attacked it was the only choice.

[Baruch]

Good for Zimmerman. The shooting was justified and this gun is only a "piece of American history" because of the dumbass corporate media that was obsessed with this non-story. Zim may as well take advantage of the stupid shit the media spews by making himself some money. And no, Treyvon's family doesn't need a dime of it. They've gotten plenty of big donations. They will be fine.

Sorry, you weren't there.  Neither was I.  Any comment is based solely on prejudice.

Zimmerman's subsequent violent behavior gives me pause to think what kind of man he is.  Not someone I would like to know.

[Johan]

Oh for fuck sake. Way to go dude. Just what the forum needed. Another Zimmerman thread. Can't wait to see what inspiring and thought provoking debate comes out of it.

[Shiranu]

Don't think there is much to debate, this has little to do with him, even less of his guilt, and is instead a sad example of how we as humans ( do other countries do this as much? Maybe it's just an American thing...) idolize controversy to the extent that a woman beating, disrespectful asshole with several run ins with the law and a kill to his name can auction his weapon as a piece of American history to donate the money to bigotry groups... and there are people chomping at the bits to buy it.

That scares me far more than Zimmerman and is of far more importance than one pathetic man with mental issues.

This is, anyways, why I posted it. I'm not going to censor myself just because some people might find the topic controversial. Offensive and hurtful? Certainly. But not controversial.

[FaithIsFilth]

Sorry, you weren't there.  Neither was I.  Any comment is based solely on prejudice.

Zimmerman's subsequent violent behavior gives me pause to think what kind of man he is.  Not someone I would like to know.

I have no doubt Zimmerman is a prick. The media sees the need to report on every little thing he does in his life, and his reputation can't get much worse at this point, so he might as well make him some money. Yeah it's insensitive, but he can't make his reputation any worse than it already is. My problem with the Trayvon case blowing up and being the biggest court case in years, is that there was never any reason to think that a murder was committed. There was never any evidence to show that a murder took place, yet people still continue on with their religious belief to this day, calling him a murderer or telling him to shoot himself.

[Hydra009]

Don't think there is much to debate, this has little to do with him, even less of his guilt, and is instead a sad example of how we as humans ( do other countries do this as much? Maybe it's just an American thing...) idolize controversy to the extent that a woman beating, disrespectful asshole with several run ins with the law and a kill to his name can auction his weapon as a piece of American history to donate the money to bigotry groups... and there are people chomping at the bits to buy it.

Murderabilia.

I think most of the problem is that killers are made famous, creating a market for grisly mementos in much the same way that there's a market for other historical memorabilia like Mount Saint Helens ash, WW2 Japanese swords, and Civil War rifles.

[marom1963]

Because nobody believes for a minute that he would have shot an unarmed white boy under otherwise exactly the same circumstances. He shot that boy for being black in his neighborhood. And it doesn't matter that Zimmerman was Hispanic.

[Hydra009]

Because nobody believes for a minute that he would have shot an unarmed white boy under otherwise exactly the same circumstances. He shot that boy for being black in his neighborhood. And it doesn't matter that Zimmerman was Hispanic.

I have an idea.  How about we not discuss that incident in this thread?  We already have several long and heated threads devoted to exactly that.