Gun makers are biting no bullets in the current recession. Firearm sales rose 26 percent at Springfield-based Smith & Wesson from Election Day through January. The Connecticut firm Sturm, Ruger & Co. reported a 21-percent increase over last year. Analysts say fears - stoked by the National Rifle Association — that Barack Obama would be the most antigun president in American history are fueling the increases.

Buoyed by its recession-proof status, the gun lobby is playing stick-up on Capitol Hill, trying to influence bills dealing with everything from troubled streets to pristine forests. Allowing weapons in national parks was one of the most thoughtless of President Bush’s outgoing midnight rules, which took effect in January. Happily, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last week issued a preliminary injunction.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says he is reviewing the rule. But when he was Colorado senator, his office said the rule was “sensible.”

When Attorney General Eric Holder recently murmured about repealing the assault weapons ban, 65 House Democrats wrote Holder a letter in fervent opposition.

Obama himself needs to be a voice of sanity here. The recession may be a silver bullet for gun makers, but the NRA shouldn’t be allowed to gun down democracy.—bostonglobe.com