We feared the worst — and weren’t pleased, if the worst did occur, it would have been on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a celebration of the icon who used peaceful protest to make this a more welcoming and just country for all.

Looking backward, however, we realize that the rally on Monday of about 22,000 people in Richmond, Virginia, by folks who worry that their rights to gun ownership are being denied, in fact honored King because theirs turned out to be a peaceful demonstration. Time will tell if it puts the brakes on what they see as a threat to their constitutional rights enshrined in the Second Amendment, but they made a point on Monday.

We weren’t worried because we thought those who would make their way to Richmond were a violent bunch, but because we knew many would come armed, and we also knew that tensions would be high. It was a potentially explosive mix, made more so by the fact that there would be extremists on the left and right who would be there to agitate, people who actually embrace the notion of this country plunging into a second civil war.

But by all accounts the protest was without major incident. The protesters even picked up the trash before they left.

Two arrests were made, and each was when a person illegally concealed his or her face. Much credit goes to Virginia law enforcement, and a decision by the governor to ban weapons from the Capitol grounds, which separated the rally into two groups, 6,000 on the grounds, and 16,000 nearby but off the grounds.

Lobby Day, as it was dubbed, was organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which said its demonstrations would be peaceful and intended to draw attention to “Second Amendment sanctuaries” — what the group sees as governments that vow not to enforce what they deem “unconstitutional” gun laws.

The group’s call for action came after a shift in power in the Virginia Senate, from Republican controlled to Democratic. The Senate recently approved, along party lines, several restrictions on guns, including background checks for private firearm transfers, limiting gun purchases to one handgun a month and allowing local government to ban firearms in public during a permitted event.

The bills now head to the Virginia House of Delegates, whose members, we are sure, were watching on Monday.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, trumpeted the fact that there were no problems: “Thousands of people came to Richmond to make their voices heard. Today showed that when people disagree, they can do so peacefully. The issues before us evoke strong emotions, and progress is often difficult. I will continue to listen to the voices of Virginians, and I will continue to do everything in my power to keep our Commonwealth safe.”

The debate on gun control will continue is this country, with those on the left convinced that tighter controls will mean fewer guns, and ultimately mean fewer people dying from gun violence.

Those on the right will continue to see gun ownership as a constitutionally protected right, and will point to this truth: As the number of guns has grown in this country, the number of people killed by them has gone down, a fact that doesn’t seem supported by the headlines.

So expect more protests such as the one Monday in Richmond, and keep fingers crossed that they too will be peaceful. We are sure that King himself, who always recognized gun ownership as a right to protect oneself, would have been proud that the event was free of violence.