The strenght of the American dollar has fallen. The demand for firearms has only grown, and while it is tapering off i've noticed more and more folks getting into it. Had an optometrist who took my First Steps Pistol course, and went with me to my FFL guy (FFL guy won't sell to my students unless I'm there, he don't like dealing with strangers), and the FFL guy still had a few AKs lying around for $550 a piece (back in March), and the optometrist went and bought three of them for $520 a piece. Mind you these were old hand Romanian WASRs that were only $400 a year and half prior. When I asked the kindly 43 year old man why he bought them he replied "want them before they get made illega." I'm sticking with my homebuilds and parts projects for AKs, did a Romy G for less than $350 without an FFL transferable receiver but it's staying in my private collection so I don't care.
Plus raw material costs are up a great deal higher as we go into competition with China, buying all those cheap Chinese goods has helped drive China's ability to compete for resource consumption. Ten years ago China couldn't compete for resource consumption like they do today.
And for a second, let us be real. Depending on where you live, if you live where there is either a defunct or corrupt culture of gun store owners, you are going to risk getting ripped off. I love going to my FFL guy and comparing prices between those I find in the gunshops, there is generally between $100-$300 in savings, sometimes as much as $500 in ARs.
Plus there are more middle men and speculators in the gun market now than there were in the past. If you are paying more now, you are likely paying for those extra middle men to have jobs.