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So, essentially, despite what Georgie was saying, Han shooting someone who had a gun pointed at him, and then stated that he’d enjoy killing him would be self defense, even if Greedo didn’t shoot first.
Of course, suppose it depends on if Greedo is a registered Bounty Hunter, but, suppose as someone employed by a crime lord, it’s possible that paperwork isn’t a big deal.
Granted, Han has quite a bit of legal trouble with the whole smuggling background, also aiding and abetting a terrorist organization (Well, that is until said terrorist organization won the war…)
Gold star for this comment. If Nathan ever does a comic on national security, be sure to repeat this.
Movie-verse Han had not yet aided or abetted the Alliance. In the EU I think he’d had 1 maybe 2 brushups with them, but iirc they weren’t exactly public knowledge.
If Han’s debts were legally accrued and Greedo was duly licensed and legally contracted to bring him in for nonpayment, Han would’ve been out of line.
Also, Han was sitting in a bar booth, making it impractical if not impossible to retreat.
Most importantly, this was Mos Eisley. I doubt the stormtroopers (the only form of law enforcement I could see) even bothered to show up if they heard about the shooting. That and the Empire is ridiculously anti-alien.
Stand your ground laws and castle doctrine laws mess with the equation depending on your jurisdiction. Stand your ground mean you don’t need to try to retreat. Castle Doctrine is makes it legal to shoot intruders regardless of other skills.
I thought Castle meant that you don’t have to retreat from your home, Stand Your Ground meant you don’t have to retreat at all unless you’re trespassing? Neither has to do with other skills.
What about if in this situation, say, the gunslinger was not threatening other people, but 8-Ball thought he was a threat, and ordered him to drop his weapons at gunpoint, and then shot him when he the gunslinger tried to shoot him. This isn’t self defense but could it be justified as necessity?
Or to add on, would this be self defense for the gunslinger, or could he have just dropped his weapons as an alternative to trying to shoot back?