No, he was supposed to take whatever 12 year old Trayvon dished out, since he had no right to question or “diss” a visiting stranger to his community. If that meant being killed by having his skull smashed on a sidewalk, so be it...
“...but nobody would be dead.”
I CAN’T STAND this attitude (with ANY event) where the thinking is that ONLY if you are in fear for your life do you have a right to defend yourself. If someone is trying to harm me, destroy something of mine, or steal something (among other things), they run the risk of getting shot as I try to stop them. And I have not only the legal right, but the God-given right to do so. (Well, legally it needs to be a felony in my state, which would mean stealing or damaging something more than $250. But I must be honest, if some kid is running away with my T.V. he’s probably ok, if it is my laptop with a lot of my work on it, he grabbed the wrong thing.