AK's used to be a club for weirdos and cheapskates (like myself) but like everything else the internet has ruined that. All these guntubers and Instagram "influencers" have turned a "garbage commie made junk rifle" into a bespoke craftsman's art piece that now costs triple what it should. Same thing has happened with magazines. Bakelite mags are not fantastic magazines but "OH MY HECKIN WASR, IS THAT MAGAZINE ORANGE AND SWIRLY?!?".
Bans have hurt, but what has hurt more is the internet hype machine.
A lot of the people buying expensive AK's now will pay 50 cents per trigger pull and think nothing is wrong with it because they don't know any better. They'll only shoot it when they want to take pictures for internet clout anyway.