[wideawake]

If Zimmermann were not armed, he may have confronted Martin anyway, on general principle.

If he had, he might be the dead one and Martin might be alive - not the best trade for society, all things considered.

If he had not confronted him, Martin - skulking around between houses - might have gone ahead with a burglary, and he might have been killed in a break-in or he might have killed someone in a break-in.

One thing is for sure: Martin was in a violent mood that night and it was not going to end well for somebody.

Zimmermann's firearm prevented several less desirable outcomes than the one that occurred.

[wtc911]

You have created a story based on the slimmest of known, verifiable fact (you got the names right). Your story relies on the two players thinking and behaving in ways that you (or anyone else here) cannot support with known fact.

I suspect that, if you genuinely believe that what you wrote is factual, you will be sorely disappointed with the way this ends.

[Verginius Rufus]

Martin did not know Zimmerman had a gun when he attacked him—it was only when Zimmerman moved to try to get his head off the sidewalk which Martin was beating his head against that Martin saw his gun and tried to grab it from him. At that point one or the other was going to die from a bullet. If Zimmerman had not had a gun, it would have ended with him either dead or so badly hurt he might have been in a coma. Martin would have walked away free but might have been caught by the cops later that night, or afterwards when he bragged about the confrontation on Facebook.