A gun show expected to attract around 25,000 people to the Dulles Expo Center this weekend has been canceled following a ruling issued Thursday by a judge in Fairfax County.

Circuit court Judge Brett Kassabian declined to grant an injunction sought by organizers of the Nation’s Gun Show, which would have allowed the event to proceed with no capacity restrictions despite Gov. Ralph Northam’s recent order tightening COVID-19 safety measures statewide. “Entertainment and amusement” businesses in Virginia are now required to limit crowds to 30% of their occupancy load or 250 people, whichever is less.

Attorneys for gun show promoter Showmasters Inc., firearms dealer Sonny’s Guns & Transfers, and an Ashburn gun enthusiast had filed a complaint against Gov. Ralph Northam and the state’s health commissioner, saying the restrictions violated Virginians’ rights to keep and bear arms because a 250-person limit would force the show to be canceled.

The judge countered Thursday that scaling back or nixing the event wouldn’t restrict attendees’ rights under the state’s constitution, and that health considerations took priority because hundreds of Fairfax County residents have died of COVID-19.

“To allow thousands to roam unchecked during the middle of the most serious health crisis this county has suffered in the past 100 years is not in the public interest,” the judge said.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who represented the state against the suit, celebrated the ruling on Twitter. “Putting hundreds or even thousands of Virginians at risk for the sole purpose of selling guns is just not worth it,” he tweeted.

In their complaint against the state, the plaintiffs argued the Nation’s Gun Show should be treated the same as brick-and-mortar retail businesses, which don’t have a capacity limit under the new rules. Canceling the event, they added, would irreparably harm its exhibitors and waste months of planning and effort. Attorneys for Sonny’s Guns & Transfers said the business derives more than 90% of its income from gun shows, and it would lose as much as $70,000 in sales if the show couldn’t go on as planned.

John Crump, another plaintiff, said he wished to attend the show not only to buy firearms, but to “gather together with like-minded individuals” to discuss “relevant issues with respect to the right to keep and bear arms,” and that he was willing to follow masking and social distancing requirements at the gun show.

Showmasters Inc. President Annette Elliott defended the company’s health procedures in a Facebook post Thursday. “We limit our occupancy, everyone wears a mask and follows the COVID REQUIREMENTS,” she wrote. “We have also had two shows already and have not been a super spreader.”

News footage from a Showmasters gun show in Richmond over the summer shows multiple attendees and vendors not wearing masks or social distancing.

Elliott launched a GoFundMe campaign this week to raise money for the plaintiffs’ legal fees. The campaign had raised about $600 of its $35,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.

After Thursday’s ruling, Showmasters confirmed on Facebook that the Nation’s Gun Show is canceled. “We fought back and went to court at great expense and lost. We respectfully disagree with the judges opinion,” organizers said.

Gun sales have soared across the country during the pandemic, according to The Trace, a nonprofit that derives sales estimates from FBI criminal background checks. The organization says Virginia gun sales rose 71% in October over last year.