Why I carry weapons for defensive purposes but speak facts and reality even if other may wish to impugn or murder me for it. Tribal ideologies are intellectual dishonesty cults incarnate. Saying you're a "D," "R," "communist," etc. puts your mind and your positions in a camp to defend. Why not weigh each issue, policy, and scenario standing-alone with consistent common-sense?
If you don't have a weapon, others with weapons with different beliefs can and will eventually silence you permanently. This is what happens in Mexico to reporters and civil society activists. They don't carry guns and so they make themselves easy targets to eliminate.