Some people are scared of an armed population, they think people can't be trusted with firearms, because firearms are OMG But compare the destructive power of a mob armed with handguns and rifles vs one with molotov cocktails, in the context of a riot You aren't going to bring down buildings and armored vehicles with handguns and rifles, with molotov cocktails however... You can bring down an entire city block And it's cheap as fuck, no permit required no rare pieces of equipment, nothing, just gasoline and bottles, tissues, a lighter and that's it The destructive power of arsonists is vastly under estimated these days, probably because their destructive power is almost never pictured in movies