A group organizing an event featuring George Zimmerman's defense attorney Mark O'Mara and a raffle of the same model firearm used to kill Trayvon Martin has decided that the prize portion should be removed.
The Gun Rights Preservation Forum event will still happen on Nov. 4, but the organization has decided to nix the raffle for the time being. Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Central East Florida Bob White told USA Today that the raffle, which will gift a gun and a Bible to one winner, might happen at a different event, potentially in early December. The 9 mm semiautomatic Kel-Tec PF-9 handgun that was slated to be raffled off is the same model of gun that George Zimmerman used when he killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012. Zimmerman was subsequently acquitted of second-degree murder charges, after he testified that he shot Martin in self-defense. Martin was walking through neighborhood watch volunteer Zimmerman's gated community when the fatal incident happened.
White told USA Today that O'Mara had gotten in touch with him to communicate some trepidation he felt about including the gun in the raffle. White was apparently unaware that the gun to be raffled off matched the model of the gun Zimmerman used to shoot Martin. But when Florida Today inquired about the firearm earlier this month, White decided it would be best to postpone the raffle.
"In making this decision to postpone the raffle, we are trying to be sensitive to concerns expressed by our featured speaker, Mark O'Mara, and others, regarding appearances relating to the raffling of the Kel-Tec 9 mm," White wrote in an email to both O'Mara and the local newspaper. "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. 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."
White reported that he'd talked it over with other Republican Liberty Caucus board members, who agreed the gun should not be tied into the raffle.
"We have come to the conclusion that, in this particular situation, standing on principle by going ahead with the raffle would be shortsighted and would accomplish no useful purpose," White continued in his email.
Attendees of the event who have already bought a raffle ticket for the gun and the Bible will still have the option of winning the prizes at the later event.
