RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia urged the state Supreme Court on Friday to uphold a weapons ban at an upcoming gun rally in the capital, arguing it was necessary to prevent a repeat of deadly violence that erupted at a white nationalist rally more than two years ago.

State Attorney General Mark Herring’s petition — and simultaneous legal efforts by gun-rights groups to lift the ban — came amid the arrest of six men whom authorities linked to a white supremacist group known as The Base. At least three of them were planning to attend the pro-gun rally on Monday in Richmond, according to an official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an active investigation.

In his legal brief to the Supreme Court, Herring called Gov. Ralph Northam’s executive order banning guns from the Capitol grounds “a carefully limited Executive Order” that “does not prevent anyone from speaking, assembling, or petitioning the government.”

“Instead, it temporarily precludes private possession of firearms in a sensitive public place during a specified time to protect public safety,” the brief says.

Herring argued Northam’s order would help prevent the kind of violence that erupted at a 2017 white nationalist rally in the city of Charlottesville. One woman was killed and more than 30 others were hurt when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd. No one was wounded by gunfire at the rally.

A circuit court judge on Thursday upheld Northam’s ban after gun-rights groups filed a lawsuit against it, arguing that it would violate their Second Amendment right to bear arms and their First Amendment freedom of speech.

President Donald Trump jumped into the fray on Friday, tweeting that the Second Amendment “is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia.”

“That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away,” Trump tweeted.

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League — the group sponsoring the rally — called Richmond Circuit Court Judge Joi Taylor’s ruling upholding the ban “mind-boggling.”