George Lucas chose to change the scene because he felt Han Solo should be less anti-heroic. In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, Lucas said, "We like to think of [Han Solo] as a murderer because that's hip -- I don't think that's a good thing for people. I mean, I don't see how you could redeem somebody who kills people in cold blood." The fan counter-argument is that if Darth Vader can be redeemed after killing millions, surely Han can be redeemed after killing one person who was pointing a gun at him.
