I don't recall Empire being banned, but several countries did cut that shot out, which probably confused the hell out of people!

There is probably a bit of a double standard with the MPAA when it comes to people being shot by scifi weapons vs. real guns.

Note how a movie like Star Trek 6 gets away with oodles of Klingon blood in a PG film by making it look like pepto bismol. ;)

The original Star Wars movie novelization is actually pretty graphic in some of it's descriptions of stormtroopers getting shot.