Activists demand suspension of George Zimmerman's gun permit after Trayvon Martin killing
(CBS/WFOR/AP) SANFORD - Activists in Florida have planned a rally for Wednesday to demand that George Zimmerman's concealed weapons permit be revoked. Zimmerman is the neighborhood watch volunteer who claims he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in self-defense on February 26.
Local pastors and members of the Florida Civil Rights Association plan to gather at 11:00 a.m. outside the Florida Division of Licensing in Orlando, reports CBS Miami.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the group's leader, J. Willie David, says Zimmerman is a "clear threat to public safety."
Zimmerman has not been charged in the shooting. At a town hall meeting Tuesday in Sanford, where the shooting occurred, officials from the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Nation of Islam urged residents to remain calm but demand that Zimmerman be arrested.
"I stand here as a son, father, uncle who is tired of being scared for our boys," said Benjamin Jealous, national president of the NAACP. "I'm tired of telling our young men how they can't dress, where they can't go and how they can't behave."
Earlier in the week, the Department of Justice opened a civil rights probe into the shooting, and in Florida, Seminole County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger said a grand jury will meet April 10 to consider evidence in the case.
Complete coverage of the Trayvon Martin case on Crimesider