Personally, I wouldn't penalize the Archer. It strikes me as a Catch-22 kind of "gotcha!" where the GM was looking for an excuse. You know those stories of reading a "Wish" in the most literal and painful (to the PC) way? Kind of like that.
I mean, if he
doesn't take the shot, you could argue he wasn't acting to prevent harm to his sworn ally, and could be penalized for that.
Honestly, I think focusing on the fiddly details is missing the forest for the trees, and to me feels like trying to game the system. You
could interpret it that way, and as long as you're consistent about it at your table... if it works for you, great. I may not agree, but I don't think I'd accuse you of playing
wrong. (Though I still reserve the right to call people out on specific abuses.

)
I think that being overly technical and looking for edge cases that might screw the characters has the potential of removing a bit of the fun. Not to mention, I've seen that sort of approach often used by passive-aggressive GMs as a way to restrict the influence or effect of something they don't like, rather than be adult and discuss the issues with their players.