President Donald Trump will be the main speaker at the annual convention of the National Rifle Association, which kicked off on Thursday in Atlanta.

The president will speak at the event on Friday, the first sitting US president to attend the NRA conference since Ronald Reagan.

Not only will thousands of members of the powerful organization welcome Trump, but hundreds of demonstrators will also be on hand to demand greater gun control.

Trump participated in the NRA conference last year, although he was just a presidential candidate at the time, delivering a speech in which he urged doing away with "gun-free zones" and criticized his then-rival for the presidency, Democrat Hillary Clinton, for her proposals to regulate and limit access to firearms.

The NRA publicly supported Trump during the campaign and was one of the groups outside the Republican Party that produced the most political advertising for him.

In his 1983 speech to the organization, Reagan said he was proud to be an NRA member and promised not to disarm a single American who wanted to protect his family from fear and harm.

Along with Trump, other Republican figures have announced that they will attend the 146th annual conference, including Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Senators Ted Cruz, Luther Strange, David Perdue and Rob Portman.

Activists pushing for more stringent gun control are also scheduled to stage several protests during the event, which concludes on Sunday, and on Saturday it is expected congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis will participate.

On the other hand, people defending the Second Amendment will also be present in front of the Atlanta convention center to show their support for the NRA.

It is expected that more than 80,000 people, most of them members of the pro-gun organization, will attend the event this weekend, which includes a banquet to raise funds to help the pressure group with its various activities.