Lawyer Says Han Solo Was Legally Justified in Shooting Greedo First

Any true Star Wars fan believes that Han Solo shot first. George Lucas doesn’t seem to be a true fan of his own creation, because as you know, he stands by his decision that Greedo shot first. In a recent interview, he explained:

“Han Solo was going to marry Leia, and you look back and say, ‘Should he be a cold-blooded killer?’ Because I was thinking mythologically — should he be a cowboy, should he be John Wayne? And I said, ‘Yeah, he should be John Wayne.’ And when you’re John Wayne, you don’t shoot people [first] — you let them have the first shot. It’s a mythological reality that we hope our society pays attention to.”

To me, Solo seemed like the kind of guy that would never allow himself to be shot at first. Why would he put himself in danger of being killed like that? On top of that, how are we supposed to believe that a professional bounty hunter would be such a terrible shot and miss at such a close range,?

Thanks to Legal Geeks we’ve learned that Solo was well within his legal rights to shoot first. A lawyer with them explains:

“Without a doubt, having a blaster pointed directly at Han put his life in danger. Additionally, Greedo’s statement, ‘That’s the idea. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,’ communicated Greedo’s intent to kill Han. Shooting first was seemingly the only way to prevent Greedo from using deadly force himself.
“Regarding the retreat issue, Han was already at gunpoint and cornered in the booth when Han shot Greedo. It is unlikely Han could have retreated with his back to the wall and in a seated position. Shooting his way out appeared to be his only option. Finally, reasonable belief wouldn’t be hard to prove. Han was in Mos Eisley Spaceport, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Greedo had his weapon pointed at Han the entire time, with Han cornered in a booth. This should be sufficient to show the reasonableness of the threat to Han’s life.”

So there it is. Han was legally justified to shoot first. If he didn't shoot first, he would have died. In the real world, Greedo would not have missed. Han saved his own life by shooting first. Now, will someone please change this scene back to the way it was originally?

GeekTyrant Homepage