Historically, part of the reason arson is considered such a serious crime is because it's basically attempted murder: you're doing something that's likely to re

Historically, part of the reason arson is considered such a serious crime is because it's basically attempted murder: you're doing something that's likely to result in someone dying and recklessly disregarding that fact, and at least one person was in fact killed by the fires started in cities throughout the US (possibly more). Not that this got much attention from the mainstream media... think I heard about it due to checking the local press there. In just a few weeks, a president will take office who ran in part on his support for those rioters.