Multistate Bar Examination Practice Question

The correct answer is self-defense because it allows individuals to use a reasonable amount of force, including deadly force, to protect themselves from imminent harm or death. For this defense to be valid, the defendant must reasonably believe that the use of such force is necessary to prevent an immediate threat. In this scenario, the presence of the gun and the demand for money constituted an immediate danger to the clerk's life.

The other answers are incorrect because duress refers to committing a crime due to threats against oneself or others, not to defend oneself. Necessity applies to choosing a lesser evil to avoid a greater harm, but it does not specifically address situations of personal physical danger from an aggressor. Entrapment is not applicable here, as the man with a gun was not a law enforcement officer inducing the store clerk to commit a crime.