I think Rush is off here. There are still real men in America.
There just aren’t as many.
If the fight came down the way Zim has said, the gun was not a factor until TM tried to take it. At that point Zim’s only choice may have been to shoot or risk dying.
In fact to me it speaks to a certain amount of restraint on George’s part... maybe in spite of getting clobbered he still hoped to see a minimally violent end to the fight. That’s not cowardly, to be willing to take some punishment for the sake of peace as long as there is some accountability applied at the end... but truly said, it isn’t “macho” either. Jesus’ own conduct comes to mind. (There were definitely passers-by so a shout for assistance would make sense.)