Thousands of armed US gun rights activists join peaceful Virginia rally

Thousands of armed gun-rights activists filled the streets around Virginia's capitol building on January 20 to protest a package of gun-control legislation making its way through the newly Democratic-controlled state legislature. The Richmond rally maintained a festive atmosphere amid heavy security after Governor Ralph Northam banned carrying weapons onto the capitol grounds, anxious to avoid a replay of the violence at a 2017 demonstration by white nationalists in Charlottesville that killed a counter-protester.