George Zimmerman's Kel-Tec PF-9 (courtesy controversial times.com)

“George Zimmerman’s auction for the gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin has closed,” tmz.com reports, “and the winning bid topped $120,000. We’re told roughly 7 verified users participated in the bidding war. Zimmerman has to verify the winner and his or her funds before the sale is finalized. The top bidder is anonymous at this point, due to the auction site’s rules.” After GunBroker.com pulled the ad for the PF-9 posted by Zimmerman himself, the “Facebook for Guns” site United Gun Group hosted the sale on their server. UGG pulled it down for a bit to weed out fake bids. What fun reading those must have been . . .

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75 COMMENTS

  1. So, I’m guessing these guys buying it, assume this gun is gonna be like the Gavrilo Princip gun of the 21st century?

    • Um… no.

      Zimmerman’s gun was used in self defense and resulted in one of the biggest examples of media malpractice in modern history. But Gavrillo’s .32 was used as a pretext to launch the deadliest war in history (up to that time) killing 18 million people, leading to revolution that left another 20 million dead and disease that may have left as many as another 100 million dead. And of course, since the first war didn’t resolve the differences between the parties an even bigger, more disastrous second war had to be fought. Princip went to his grave in complete disbelief that his actions ’caused’ the ‘Great War’. He was right of course. GZ’s Kel-Tec is peanuts in comparison.

      • Then again, this was the first of a series of incidents that, had things gone a bit differently, could have kicked off another nationwide series of race riots. I’m very thankful that didn’t happen, but for a time there I was starting to wonder if we weren’t looking at a generational repeat.

        In fact given the behavior of some of our elected officials, I have to wonder if some of them aren’t disappointed that didn’t happen.

        • Having a president who glorifies Thuglife and beatifies a goon does not help matters. Murders in big US cities are now on the rise again after 25 years of decline. Thanks Obama !!!!

      • @Gov: I don’t think he was trying to compare Zimmerman with Princip, or even the incidents that made the two of them famous. He was wondering if people think the gun will be as famous. If it does become as famous (I doubt it, this will be forgotten in 50 years), then yes it becomes the Princip gun of the 21st century, a gun famous for what happened to one bullet it fired.

      • I’m aware. But the incident itself was used as a rallying cry to create black lies matter, which still may go on to become more violent than they already are. Trayvon is thier martyr.

      • Hey (Robert) shouldn’t the title more properly be written as,

        BREAKING: George Zimmerman Sells Kel-Tec PF-9 Used
        “TO DEFEND HIMSELF AGAINST”
        Trayvon Martin for $120k

        • No Zimmerman is a fucking asshole who went out looking for trouble. He has continued to put himself out there despite being let off after the media led the witchhunt against him. If he had been tried for manslaughter he may just have been found guilty. Selling this gun in the spotlight was a dick move and only pours fuel on the majority of the foolishness that is BLM.

        • Nathan, I agree that Zimmerman was/ is an Idiot, But Martin did not just continue walking away.
          The News media kept showing the picture of Martin when he was a “nice sweet (?)”
          little 12 yr old., He was not 12 yrs old! I believe Martin could have continued on his way, but ” being/ thinking he’s a bad A$$”, chose to engage Zimmerman. At that point Martin became the aggressor!

          Just an opinion, I wasn’t there.

  3. OMG!
    I knew it would go for a chunk, mostly because of the “gun that took a life” collector sub culture out there. But a buck-twenty? Wow

      • “a buck” is common slang for 100.

        As in this example:

        “I was doing a buck-fifty (150 MPH) when the Highway Patrol pulled me over.”

    • I wouldn’t pay $1.20 for a KelTec. For that matter, if someone gave me a KelTec as a free gift, I would re-gift it to someone I didn’t like very much.

      Of course, I am biased by the frequent mechanical failure of the one Kel Tec I used to own.

  4. Man, 120k for a Kel-tec…

    You can argue all you want about what he did with that pistol and whether or not it was criminal, but that selling price is robbery.

    • Willing buyers competing against each other set the price in an auction. Nobody forced to bid, each bidder can stop whenever the price exceeds their unique determination of the item’s value. Almost as far away from robbery as you can get.

      Just what, exactly, do you think is wrong here? Or is it that you are offended that a Kel-Tec – or this one in particular – could be worth that much to someone?

      Not intended as a flame, but as an honest question.

      • No flame taken and I’m not offended or anything, but it just boggles my mind that people are willing to pay that much for a pistol that was used in a DGU.

        I mean yeah I know the drama surrounding it is what drove the price, but at the same time I’m sitting here thinking “Come on now, this isn’t Lincoln’s Repeater or Oswald’s Carcano folks.”

        • I’d bet many many of the unarmed would pay a similar price when they had that moment of overwhelming need.

    • but that selling price is robbery.

      I was at an auction once where a particular rare item sold for a very small amount because it was in low grade (lower than I wanted, but I still kicked myself later for not bidding). People were telling the *buyer* later that they had called the police because he had “stolen” the item. “Ripped” is also a term for managing to get something for far less than it should have sold for.

      …just pointing out it can work both ways. Though here, with seven bidders, I’ve no doubt it’s a fair reflection of market price for a(n in)famous gun.

    • Do you ever watch Antiques Roadshow? It’s amazing what some of the junk people pull out of their basements or attics is worth. I wish I had kept the trashy comic books my mother disapproved of. Ditto for my toys although they suffered major wear and tear. Someday, a complete collection of Mad Magazine will be worth enough to fund the owner’s retirement.

      • Love that show, but I’m always mindful that something is only “worth” what a buyer is willing to pay. I think their estimates are often inflated – just because 1 buyer paid “x” 6 months ago doesn’t mean there’s a market out there.

        They had that “auction hunters” show where antique dealers would go to flea markets and try to find items they could resell for a profit. The stuff they picked up usually went for less than they estimated when it was put up for auction.

        • Yup, see the same thing in old cars. Somebody selling a non-running rusty hunk of a 4-door chevy on Craigslist wants $10G for it, cause he saw a similar car auction for $100G at Barretts. Never mind that the similar car was a different year model, 2 door, rare varient with high-po engine that had been completely restored and numbers matching.

    • It’s not robbery, it’s a donation! Robbery is when something is taken or stolen from you.
      The money was freely offered and thus freely received, no robbery, though the dollar amount is surprising.

    • “…but that selling price is robbery.”

      Hey, nobody was holding a gun to the head of the high bidder, er…

      That probably wasn’t the best euphemism, I suppose…

      🙂

  5. Good for him. Hopefully he’ll be smart and use it to help set himself up in a business that he himself can operate. He’d be a fool to blow through it, what with his employment prospects. Although, he probably still has massive legal bills and might still owe something to his ex-wife, for all I know. I hope it works out for him and he can get some kind of fresh start from this windfall.

    • Yeah .. figure at least 50-60% goes away through auction fees and taxes, call it $55k free and clear when the dust settles.

      That’s 3-4 years of modest living expenses around much of the country, longer on some places, a heck of a lot shorter in others.

      Whatever way you look at it, it’s not a whole lot of seed corn.

    • Yeah, that was kind of my thought…..he spent a boat load more money than that on defending himself from what was clearly wrongful prosecution, egged on by the media and that jerk camping out at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

    • ” Hopefully he’ll be smart and use it to help set himself up in a business that he himself can operate.”

      Question for the TTAG lawyers:

      That gun was community property in his marriage to Shelly.

      Can the ex-wife sue to get half?

  6. Good for the white hispanic…and as someone who sold a painting(and lots of other stuff)at auction for 32000bucks “verified” funds is mighty important. AS in wire transfer and a bit of sweating that the buyer would come through. I don’t “get” that much money but I don’t have to get it…not really a lot for having a ruined life.

  7. Good. Now can ‘ol George please go quietly STFU somewhere away from the media? Thanks.

    • His choice of course. But I agree it seems like the best thing *for him*, for him to be doing.

  9. what i can’t wrap my head around is the why. If I spent that much money or even a fraction of that money on a gun i’d want to show everyone the centerpiece of my collection. I don’t know how i could spin it to make me not sound like an absolute nut job.its not like i can say say “this is whitey bulgers piece” no its “this is that cheap florida made 9mm that the (continued) idiot hispanic shot that black kid/thug with in sanford” I’d be willing to wager i could go into any pawn shop in orlando, miami, or New orleans and pick out a piece that was used to shoot someone for a bit less than 120k.

    • Used in thuggery is a rather different category than Justifiable (and successful) DGU.

      Keep in mind the “loss” of “Treyvon” wasn’t.

      • I’m always surprised at how much schadenfreude and satisfaction people take in the death of a teenager in a neighborhood scuffle, so sure he deserved to die, cloaked in thinly veiled terminology (“thug” being codeword for “black”…lets be real, that word is almost never used to describe people of other ethnicities anymore), fulfilling some deeply seated vigilante mentality.

        Whatever one thinks of Zimmerman, the attitudes expressed in this site toward a dead kid, and the mental gymnastics people go through to refuse to acknowledge that Martin was still in fact a kid, are both disturbing and disgusting.

        • Agreed. Yeah, the media is ridiculous but this is still a dead kid: it’s really sad. Additionally, George Zim may have been legally justified but the dude is also no hero. He can do what he wants with his gun but selling it in this way is pretty disgusting. He’s literally profiting (massively) off killing a kid. Let’s not be so gleeful about a dead teenager and a wannabe cop.

        • Agreed. While I think the shooting was justified (or at least there is not enough evidence to make me think otherwise) this wasn’t someone shooting a crazy ex that was intent on murder. This was shooting a 17 year old that was kicking the ass of someone. Martin’s history doesn’t show him to be a monster. Zimmerman’s history doesn’t show him to be a hero.

          In fact I’d say these was a meeting of bad luck and two people making poor choices.

  10. What a ripoff! Gunbroker has PF-9s that haven’t had Skittles, Nyquil and Arizona watermelon spilled all over them for 2-300 dollars!

    • Oh snap!

      Oh snap, u dun tru shayd ona Ozbamas boi.

      St.’s Skittles & Swishers we still don’t miss ya.

  13. Good for him. He needs the money to pay off the bill for his legal defense. I’ve read that it’s about one million. The prosecution probably spent about as much taxpayer money before the court reached the same conclusion as the detectives who first investigated his DGU.

  17. Yes he had the right to sell his firearm. But this is at best in bad taste and antagonizes an already emotionally charged situation. The gun was 200.00. The blood on it was 119,800.00.

  18. I think its in terrible taste. But my opinion is irrelevant other than in polite discussion. He has every right to sell his own property.

  19. BREAKING: George Zimmerman Sells Kel-Tec PF-9 Used to Defend His Life Against Trayvon Martin’s Attack for $120k

    There, fixed that headline for ya…

    • Except we don’t know that at all. We have Zimmerman’s account, which paints him as the innocent victim. We don’t have Martin’s account, since Zimmerman killed him. The physical evidence shows that the two were fighting (and Martin was winning) but gives NO evidence of who started it.

      There’s a difference between ‘not guilty’ and ‘innocent.’ Zimmerman was correctly found ‘not guilty’ due to reasonable doubt. That’s it.

      • Trial testimony from an eyewitness was that someone wearing a blue hoodie sweatshirt was on top of someone wearing red and pounding his head “MMA style” with “Hammer-Fists”.

        Trayvon Martin was wearing a blue hoodie sweatshirt. George Zimmerman was wearing a red sweatshirt.

        The late Ray Charles could see that was self-defense…

        • Yup. It was so clearly self defense that the police didn’t even arrest him that night.

          The 911 tape also corroborated the story. Man, some people just want to hate GZ for no reason. 🙁

  21. It’s an important gun historically. Denying that is simple foolishness. That gun and the events it was tied up in signified to everyone that playing the race card and the demonization card and the evil gun card doesn’t make you right and it doesn’t remove the individual right to self defense. Whatever level of circus the whole matter was, this shooting and its effects legal and political helped to pull the gun rights movement out of a period of relative stagnation. It woke up the sleeping giant, or at least disturbed him enough that he became restive. They don’t want the giant fully awake.

    • Well said. I was new to CCW when the altercation occurred. I followed this story as if my life depended on it. In a way, it does. After this case, I prayed, if and when the time comes when I have to use my gun to defend myself, that the attacker is not black. Imagine if Zimmerman had been convicted of murder. I shudder to think how fucked up this country would be for those that practice a natural right to bear arms. I can’t understand the ignorance of those among us that carry guns for self defense, that rooted for Zimmerman to be locked up.

    • Heck No, It’s can’t be “Just a trophy”. Trophies just sit and get dusty. It will continue to get out to the Range, to show it is still an active working firearm.

  26. I say “Bravo Georgie Boy, you made a ‘killing’ on that deal”.

    Now if every law-abiding American who has had to draw their firearm and put down a violent ghetto thug, punk, Moslem jihadist, illegal alien or mentally ill.individual could sell their firearm and make that kind of scratch all would be “right” with the world.

  28. I’m a half black half white adult male. I for one, do not see what Zimmerman did wrong. I would have shot Martin as well. Let me explain.

    I’m have a 90k a year job that I worked hard to get. No handouts to me. I did my time in the US Army working on aircraft. I was also a Recruiter. I used these two skills to acquire my current position. Now, sometimes I wear Jordan’s or some type of clothing. Sometimes, looking at me, you wouldn’t know I had a professional job and was doing pretty good for myself. I’ve got an Audi S6, a lot of firearms, nice place, etc. Point is, the cover sometimes doesn’t portray the book for me.

    So with that said, sometimes I do get suspicious looks, etc. And not once have I ever gave a fuck. If you saw me out and about and were “scared” of me or thought something of me, why should I care. I get to jump in my nice car and ride off to my nice place. And see my beautiful daughters. I continue to live my life. And if one were to approach me, so? If someone followed me, so? If I felt threatened, I would just call the police. So Martin had no reason to attack Zimmerman I believe. If Martin didn’t like Zimmerman following him, he could’ve called the police. Or kept walking. I also would not attack anyone approaching me. I will only defend myself if I see imminent threat. Like a gun getting pulled or a fist getting thrown at me. You can’t go around attacking people because they are just following you. Should Zimmerman have profiled the kid? Meh. I don’t care. It’s not illegal. Unless you’re a cop doing it for a traffic stop or something. Should Martin attacked Zimmerman? Nope. So, in conclusion, Zimmerman shot him after being attacked. He didn’t shoot Martin because he was black. He shot him because the teen decided he didn’t want Zimmerman following him and attacked him. Wrong answer apparently. I know I would not have attacked if I were in Martin’s shoes. I would continue my walk. And if police came, I would simply ask if I was being detained and ask to be on my way. And make whatever guy was following me feel like a jerk for thinking I was a bad guy when I’m not.

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