President Trump said Monday that Democrats in Virginia were “working hard” to take away Americans’ Second Amendment rights, as thousands descended on the State Capitol in Richmond to attend a gun rights rally.

“The Democrat Party in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia are working hard to take away your 2nd Amendment rights,” Trump tweeted. “This is just the beginning. Don’t let it happen, VOTE REPUBLICAN in 2020!”

The Democrat Party in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia are working hard to take away your 2nd Amendment rights. This is just the beginning. Don’t let it happen, VOTE REPUBLICAN in 2020!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2020

Trump’s message echoed a similar tweet he sent on Friday ahead of the gun-rights rally.

The president later tweeted that he “will NEVER allow our great Second Amendment to go unprotected, not even a little bit!”

I will NEVER allow our great Second Amendment to go unprotected, not even a little bit!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2020

Thousands of gun-rights advocates flocked to Richmond on Monday to voice their opposition to gun-control legislation being considered by the state legislature, which was taken over by Democrats in this past November’s elections.

The Monday rally, which begins at 11 a.m., is kicking off under heightened security. The event was expected to draw white supremacists and anti-government militias, stoking concerns about the possibility for violence like the deadly Charlottesville, Va. rally in 2017.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) declared a state of emergency last week ahead of the event in Richmond, citing “credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies that there are groups with malicious plans for the rally.”

State officials created a security perimeter around the capitol complex and banned weapons from that area, according to The New York Times,  which added that the grounds are being guarded by police with bomb-sniffing dogs.