because you choose not to defend yourself, and especially if you demand that others can’t defend themselves.

Sean has a great post up about this, from which I will steal two of the best parts.

Anyone who is silly enough to believe that it is better to allow evil to win at the cost of his or her own life is free to live like that if they want. There’s no law against stupid. But you cannot demand that I live under your rules. As a free man, I have the right to defend my life with any force necessary to preserve it. I further have the right to stand in defense of my family and in defense of innocent people around me. You cannot demand that I stand idle while others are attacked. You don’t have that right.

….

If you decide to let someone kill you instead of fighting to keep your life, I’m not going to lie and say that I “respect your position.” I can’t respect that and I won’t. I don’t ask you to “respect” my position either. I don’t actually care. You can either be on my side or you can be on the side of society’s predators, because to refuse to fight evil is to ally yourself with it. There is no “neutral” ground.

And don’t say “I’ll call the police.” If you refuse to defend your own life, what the hell gives you the right to demand someone else fight to preserve it? Where do you get off demanding that another person take responsibility when you refuse to? That cop is just another person. He isn’t your dog, to order to take your wounds, to fight your enemies while you sit safely outside the battle, your moral “purity” unstained.

I only have to respect a person’s opinion in as much as I will not use force to shut them up. That doesn’t mean I have to treat their opinions with equal merit, much less them.