That assessment is badly skewed to say the least.
1950 is kind of sandbagging it as that was the start of an era of great economic prosperity. In the coming years, the normal American middle class family would be defined by 2 cars, 3-4 kids, and a home that was probabally closer to 2000 sf. Not only that, but all of that would have been provided on one man's salary, with the wife able to spend 100% of her time at home. On top of that, the man likely was supporting that lifestyle by his mid to late 20's. Additionally, there would likely be a pension as part of employment, and the family would likely have owned everything outright except the house.
And actually a family today that has that much space and a car (or lets say 1 car and one old beater to be 1.3 cars) is not below the poverty line. The poverty line is definitely below the level of any kind of home ownership and rarely includes a decent vehicle of any kind.
That middle class has virtually disappeared, and it is rare to find any family where one working parent can sustain that kind of lifestyle for a family of 5-6, much less in their 20's. Pensions are a thing of the past, and large portions of the population cannot afford to get married until their late 20's or thirties. Most households have 2 working parents to make ends meet, and those that do not mostly live far below the poverty line on government assistance. There most certainly was a high water mark of the middle class, and it has receded considerably.
Statistics can inform us, but they can also distort things. Moreover, it is important to distinguish between technological change, like air conditioning, and economic changes. If you remove the impact of "technological inflation" from the mix, people today would be obviously much worse off than their grandparents. Additionally, quality of many items has deteriorated considerably, which is mostly not captured in the CPI etc.
Back to the OP question.
I am not a boomer, so lets start with that.
However, I do consider the boomers lucky in almost every regard, firearms and otherwise. Despite inheriting what was mostly a wealthy and prosperous nation, they managed to squander it and leave it far worse for their children. While they are not solely responsible, or individually all responsible, they more than any other generation must take the blame for what happened.
Besides the issues of affordability, boomers were responsible for much of the control laws that we are now saddled with and unlikely to ever get rid of.
Hmmm.
My parents got married in '62 in their 20s. Me and my brother followed in '65 and '66. Both parents had college degrees, two full time jobs, one part time job, two used cars, and they got their first mortgage in '72 for a 1600 sq. ft. house. Maybe a year or two after that, was their first new car. My dad dropped the part time jobs sometime in the late '70s as his full time job improved. They busted their humps to get there, same as their parents before them.
As opposed to my parents, my brother and I went the working class route. His time in the Army led him that way and my mechanical inclinations learned in my teens led me that way. We both left home at 18 and got married to our wives in our 20s in the 1980s.
Afford to get married? We found wives that were willing to work and we lived in low end apartments living paycheck to paycheck; used cars, used everything, rent to own furniture to build credit. Same as many others. My first mortgage in the '90s was for a 1400 square footer way out of town where homes were affordable, but we hated the long drive to work.
My four kids (currently 23 to 31) are a mixed bag. Two are hard workers, one with a problem holding a job, and the other with a very "intelligent" mouth full of excuses. That last one can out debate the whole family, whether wrong or right. He shoulda become a lawyer, but that would require working hard and lowering his standards that he got from others outside of this household.
Through the eyes of my brother and myself, what we see is that the careers that we started into decades ago appear to be only sought by recent immigrants to the USA, ex-military, or both. Meaning jobs that require working with your hands and getting dirty.
I figure the high standard of living that modern Americans are accustomed to is an unfortunate expectation of many young folks that should be starting out lean and mean in the working world. Young workin' folks sometimes simply need to lower their standards and get going with life.
Speaking of pensions and bennies. One pretty much has to work for a good sized corporation or a tax payer funded entity of some sort to get those things, in my experience. Otherwise, you pay your own way.
Personally, I couldn't afford my first firearm until age 27, which I got for $120. My current small "collection" didn't really get going until age 41. Which means only the last 16 years have really been my Golden Gun Years.
) I got another job pulling in $4.25 an hour working in a warehouse, so I couldn’t buy much. 
