>>549325
>Capitalism is not rational
Not when it's choked by regulations that prevent it from being rational and occasionally prevent it from being capitalism at all. If it was as simple as taking some blueprints to a machinist, having him churn out a couple of Hi-Powers, and then selling them for $200 less than your competitor, somebody would already be doing it. It's basically free money. That's not the world we live in, though. The mountains of paperwork and seas of red tape that come with manufacturing and selling firearms (in addition to the standard bullshit that comes from starting a business of your own) is enough to stamp out any serious competition.
>It is based purely on how much you think you can gouge out of someone
Yes, that's called profit, and it's the reason why people do things other than subsistence farming; the expectation to benefit from a particular action is why they choose that action over another. Why bust your arse making things and selling them for exactly how much they cost to make, if you're only ever going to break even? Just live a comfy life tending to your vegetable patch instead.
The thing about profit margins (or "gouging", as you would call it) is that the bigger the difference between what something costs to make and what you're selling it for, the more space you leave for someone to undercut you. If A and B are both selling Hi-Powers of equal quality, but B is selling it cheaper, you buy from B. The reason B doesn't currently exist is because, given the current state of the market, $800 is about as low as you can go before it stops being worth the effort. Prove me wrong, commie.
>there's plenty of morons and hype in the gun industry.
I absolutely agree with you 100% on this part, though.