Organizer of event featuring George Zimmerman's lawyer decides that gun raffle may not be good idea
Organizers of a gun forum featuring George Zimmerman’s defense lawyer nixed event plans to raffle off a semiautomatic handgun that’s the same model as the one used in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.
According to United Press International, Zimmerman’s lawyer Mark O’Mara expressed concerns about the raffle, which is sponsored by the Republican Liberty Caucus of Central East Florida. A spokesperson for O’Mara did not respond to a call made by the ABA Journal.
Martin, 17, was unarmed when Zimmerman shot and killed him. Zimmerman says he shot in self-defense, and a jury acquitted him of murder earlier this year.
“We have no doubt that George Zimmerman used this weapon legally in the defense of his own life. Certainly, its use prevented further serious bodily harm to himself, and he may very well have saved his own life by its use,” the group’s chairman Bob White said. “We also recognize, though, that another life was lost in the process, and we do have empathy for the parents of Trayvon Martin. Losing their son was tragic, regardless of the circumstances.”
The gun in question is a Kel-Tec PF-9, which is a 9-mm semiautomatic handgun, UPI reports. White said that the organization plans to raffle off the gun at a later date. They plan to raffle off a Bible as well.
The forum, scheduled for Nov. 4 at the Melbourne Holiday Inn, will focus on the “ever-increasing encroachment by government on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens of the United States,” according to the organization’s website.
