As I understanding the "Hearing Protection Act", the idea is that you'd still fill out a 4473 to buy a suppressor, but no NFA tax or waiting for months.
Correct, the act would make suppressors no different then long guns are now. They would still be serialized, on a 4473, and with a background check. Buying a manufactured suppressor would be no different than going to the gun shop and buying a deer rifle.
The reason that manufacturers are charging $700 to $1000 for these mid grade cans is there is an immense amount of prototyping, and engineering that goes into bringing it to market. Years were spent getting them ready for production.
I'm sure that there would be some low cost options out there if this passes, but I just can't imagine a world where a $50 suppressor offers 90% of what a $1000 one does. Nowhere else in the shooting industry do we see this. Not in rifles, not in optics, nowhere.
There is even an argument that prices will increase if this passes. The companies know that the consumers don't see their cans as $700 or $1000 cans. They see them as $900 to $1200 plus a big pita. The buzz around the industry is that manufacturers are not prepared to ramp up production, yet demand is likely to skyrocket upon passage. When demand outpaces supply, prices go up.
The options for home made are no where near the same league as these cans. We can already make rifles legally, but how many actually do it? There will probably be more people make a can than are making rifles now, but I hope I'm wrong and diy flourishes. The flashlight tubes and washer type options just suck so bad. They are like comparing a blister pack Walmart scope to a nightforce beast. I just can't wrap my head around a blister pack Walmart suppressor being much different. If you have the skill and equipment to make a good suppressor, you have the skill and equipment to buy a barrel blank and make the rest of the rifle from scratch.
Again, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm saving up for passage.
