But to get a margin of 200% when the expenses went up 25%(say) is wrong.
Why is it wrong? What is wrong about it? To whom is it wrong?
To the people who AGREE to WILLINGLY pay that much money?
No one is going to die if they can't buy an AR-15 right this week or this year. This is a discretionary, luxury purchase. Why would it be "wrong" in some universal sense (or even in a small, personal sense) to get as much money for the product as someone will willingly pay to have it?
That's the point of running a business. The only thing that holds prices down in a free market is competition and natural public demand not outpacing supply. When supply is grossly outpaced by the demand for the products of all manufacturers in a niche, the price can go as high as folks are willing to pay.
I don't see where that is wrong. If someone wants an AR-15 more than they want the $100,000 bill in their pocket, is it WRONG to sell it to them for that price? Of course not. If 10,000 people want AR-15s more than they want $3,000 they each have available to spend on it, is it WRONG to sell them all rifles for $3,000 each, even if you paid $0.30 a piece to have them made? Certainly there is no case to be made that it is.
2. IF that were truly the case they would be better off doing the Disney approach and hire part timers to fill hours without paying benefits or OT.
Many, if not most, undoubtedly are. They still can't fill the demand with the equipment they have. Buying more equipment and facilities in order to meet an obviously quite temporary demand is very bad business, so they make all they can and the market sets the price wherever it will fall based on the supply the manufacturers can provide.
3. IMO, this drive is much different in that I believe this time the majority of gun owners(and even newbies) aren't ending up with 1 AR in their collection...they are accumulating guns, ammo and mags in multiples.
Meh. Maybe. I hear that sometimes. Usually with a resounding absence of any solid data to illustrate that it is actually true.
And who cares if they're getting rid of excess? What if they're breathing a sigh of relief and socking those guns away to be ready for the NEXT crisis?