Planning for Saturday’s rallies started in April, weeks after gun control rallies took place in Washington and other cities. Some of Saturday’s organizers found one another on Instagram and Facebook and decided to speak out against what they saw as an attack on gun ownership. They expected a modest turnout on Saturday, but far fewer people showed up than organizers had hoped.

In Chicago, organizers planned for about 125 people, but the rally drew approximately 35. The group gathered in a corner of Millennium Park, not the great lawn, because organizers did not secure a permit and park security forced them to leave.

Earlier in the morning in the same city, hundreds of anti-gun violence protesters shut down 10 blocks of the Dan Ryan Expressway, one of the busiest interstates in the United States. Their march along the highway was in protest of gun violence and gun-related deaths in Chicago, and the disruption drew widespread attention – and some scorn, from groups including the National Rifle Association.