Principled Living

It's 2 am
The fear is gone
I'm sitting here waiting
The gun's still warm
--Golden Earring

If you abide by the non-aggression principle, then you live your life by peacefully pursuing your interests. You do not seek to coerce others to align with your view of the world. If you want to influence others, then then you try to do so via persuasion, not by violence.

The alternative is living by the aggression principle. Here you seek to control the behavior of others through use of force. Rather than through persuasion, you 'influence' others by point of gun. 

You might point the gun directly. But in many cases that would put you in jail. 

Conveniently, institutions have been arranged so that you can act aggressively and get away with it. You can hire government agents to point the gun for you. And that is legal.

Most people live by the aggression principle. They are principals of violence.