Gun control and anti-racism advocates arrived in Richmond, Virginia Monday to challenge the rally held by an estimated 15,000 pro-gun people from all over the country with the counter-protesters applauding recent firearm regulations passed in the state legislature.

Young advocates representing March for Our Lives, the national grassroots group started by survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018, arrived in the city on Sunday and spent the night in the offices of Delegates Chris Hurst and Dan Helmer, both Democratic members of the state House of Delegates who offered the accomodations so the group wouldn’t have to walk through Monday’s rally.

The young activists spent the day lobbying lawmakers to support gun control legislation.

Organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, the pro-gun rally drew thousands of people from across the country, with white supremacists and members of anti-government militias warning over the weekend that they would attend.

As Common Dreams reported last week, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam declared a temporary state of emergency for Richmond lasting until Tuesday and banned the carrying of weapons on the Capitol ground during the rally.

Since Virginia does not generally prohibit the open carrying of firearms, attendees congregated with guns in the streets outside the perimeter Northam set.

Pulse Nightclub shooting survivor Brandon Wolf posted to Twitter a photo of the March for Our Lives advocates alongside one of a heavily armed rally-goer.

“Don’t worry, sir,” he tweeted. “They’re fighting to keep you safe too.”

The rally was organized in response to three gun control bills the state Senate passed last week, which could be passed by the House of Delegates as soon as this week. Both chambers of Virginia’s legislature are controlled by the Democrats following November’s elections.

The bills include:

• S.B. 35, which would authorizes local governments to prohibit firearms in public spaces;
• S.B. 69, which would rohibits anyone who is not a licensed firearms dealer from buying more than one handgun within a 30-day period; 
• and S.B. 70, which would require background checks for all gun sales and transfers and would direct state police to set up a background check system through licensed firearms dealers.