Going Armed can prevent violence.
There are lots of bullies out there who will hurt you if they can get away with it. Some of them are official cops. Some of them are unaffiliated shitstains.
If you are armed, they will think twice about starting shit.
The Black Panthers knew this. That's why they went armed to patrol the police. (Then people who were afraid of the Black Panthers passed laws to stop that.)
Protests without armed people "turn violent", by which we really mean, cops go nuts and beat the shit out of people.