VIRGINIA: Recession-stoked fears of rising crime and tougher gun laws under a Democratic government are sending US gun sales skyhigh, and big crowds at the Chantilly Gun Show this weekend proved it once again. “Do you see the line all around the building and in the back,” asked Annette Elliott, co-organizer of one of the top gun shows in Virginia, a conservative state with rather liberal gun laws. Several hundred people thronged the gun show in the Washington suburb of Chantilly, where some 260 retailers have set up stalls hung with ready-to-fire Smith and Wessons, Glocks, Walthers, Colts and Berettas. “We’ve had a huge increase in sales since last October 2008 just before President Barack Obama was elected. Well over 200 percent. It’s coming back,” said Jerry Cochran, owner of a gun retailing firm.