Smithsonian denies it tried to buy the gun George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin

Late Wednesday, a listing went up on GunBroker.com purporting to be from George Zimmerman, the Florida man who killed Trayvon Martin in 2012.

Fox35 Orlando confirmed the listing of the weapon used to fatally shoot the teen is real.

“I’m a free American. I can do what I want with my possessions,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman makes several claims in the post about the gun. Among them: The Smithsonian Institution “expressed interest in owning and displaying” the gun.

In a tweet, the Smithsonian denied this was the case.

A Smithsonian rep told me they had no further comment on the matter.

I have reached out to Zimmerman’s defense attorney and the U.S. Department of Justice to verify the other claims Zimmerman has made, including.

• The Department of Justice recently returned the gun to Zimmerman
• The Department tried “to render the firearm inoperable.”
• What other offers have been made for the gun.

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.