Hackers Slam George Zimmerman's Gun Auction With Fake Bids and Familiar Names
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George Zimmerman hasn't given up on selling the gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin. After a failed internet auction on gunbroker.com, the gun has moved to another website, United Gun Group Auction, and it doesn't appear to be going well, so far.
First, United Gun Group Auction said that it would cancel the sale and then the online retailer changed its mind and let it proceed anyway, according to CNN. That's when the internet decided to mess with Zimmerman.
UNITED GUN GROUP AUCTION - unitedgungroup.com
The price on the bid listed by Craig Bryant is more than $65 million. That seems like an absurdly high price for a bid that started at $5,000, even if the gun is an "American Firearm Icon" as Zimmerman called it. The more plausible explanation is that someone is trying to block the sale of the gun. Unhappy commenters on the auction page seem to agree.
UNITED GUN GROUP AUCTION - unitedgungroup.com
UNITED GUN GROUP AUCTION - unitedgungroup.com
UNITED GUN GROUP AUCTION - unitedgungroup.com
The bid history also reveals other attempts at trying to block the sale, or at least annoy serious bidders.
UNITED GUN GROUP AUCTION - unitedgungroup.com
Two of the bids for more than $400,000 are under the name Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police in Cleveland, Ohio in 2014 while holding a pellet gun.
UNITED GUN GROUP AUCTION - unitedgungroup.com
A grand jury decided not to indict the two officers involved. Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 in Sanford, Florida, but was not convicted because it was ruled to be self-defense. The reference is most likely a dig at Zimmerman and his supporters. There was also another questionable bid: Shaniqua Bonifa.
UNITED GUN GROUP AUCTION - unitedgungroup.com
Shaniqua Bonifa sounds a lot like a Mad TV character played by Debra Wilson in the early 2000s.
The character "Bunifa Latifah Halifah Sharifa Jackson" was a parody of stereotypes about Black women dealing with white people in everyday situations.
