Buckeye Firearms Foundation Raises $12K To Buy Zimmerman Guns

The Buckeye Firearms Foundation, a gun group based in Ohio, has raised over $12,000 in a fundraiser carried out last week for George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who was recently acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the February 2012 shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. The group says financial support for Zimmerman was wired in from 48 states and three other countries by people who share in the group's belief that Zimmerman's right to bear arms is being infringed upon by the US Department of Justice.

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Ken Hanson, the legal chairman of Ohio firearms group, told the Associated Press that Zimmerman was "in need of protection" after his weapons were confiscated by the Department of Justice along with all the evidence from the trial as part of a civil rights investigation. "The money is intended to be used for anything he needs to defend himself or his family. He has complete discretion on how to use the money," Hanson said, and went on to mention guns, ammunition, protective gear or a security system as being among possible uses. Zimmerman reportedly would not venture out after the media news storm unless he had on a bulletproof vest and a disguise.

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Florida judge Debra Nelson had released Zimmerman's gun along with all other evidence after the not-guilty verdict was read. A spokesman for Zimmerman's defense team, Shawn Vincent, told NBC then that it was "unlikely George will take it back". Vincent also said then that donations which came in in support of Zimmerman - an amount to the tune of almost $315,000 by January - would be used to offset Zimmerman's legal costs. Asked by the AP on Friday, Vincent said the Ohio foundation's check of $12,150.37 could be put to similar use.

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Shortly after the verdict was heard, civil rights attorney John Burris, who helped Rodney King win a 1994 civil suit against the Los Angeles Police Department, told MSNBC that the impounding of the gun was one of the first necessary steps in the pending civil rights investigation.

"If they want to do an investigation they will freeze and impound all the evidence that's out there," he said. "And, then of course they have to determine and find out if there's any other evidence."