Pro-gun campaigners are gathering in the US city of Richmond for a rally that the Virginia authorities fear could turn violent. State governor Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency ahead of the protest, banning firearms from the area around the Capitol building. The Lobby Day rally is an annual event, but several gun-control bills passed in January by the Democrat-led Virginia legislature - in a state where gun rights have historically been permissive - have angered gun owners and activists. The Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights group which organised the rally, said it expected as many as 50,000 people. Many of the buses laid on from neighbouring states were sold out before the weekend. Various groups including armed militia, right-wing extremists and local Antifa, or anti-fascist movement, were expected to attend. Christian Yingling, who led the Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia during the violent clashes in Charlottesville in 2017, told the BBC he was hoping for a big turnout. "I'd like to see a lot of people, I really would. I know from chatter online that a lot of militia types are coming in from some distance... Texas, Illinois, elsewhere," he said. He said he hoped the rally would pass peacefully but feared it would not. "I think there's enormous potential for something to go wrong."