RockAndSage
WKR
There's a lot in the bill that I just don't know about, as I only read the summary, but one thing I'd say is don't bother waiting to get a suppressor. Just pull the trigger on it and move forward.
The legislative process is slow inherently, just getting hearings and votes done. But sometimes they'll also slow-roll stuff like this that might be really popular, and then suddenly hammer it through right before a mid-term election to help put them over the top with their constituents. It's very unpredictable on timing. There's priorities, strategy, and a huge amount of personality factors involved.
The short version on the process is that at least one of the chambers of Congress needs to hold committee hearings on it, where there will usually be testimony for and against. Then they'll have a "mark-up" session by either the subcommittee or whole committee, or both (first sub, then whole), where it's edited and amended. If it's passed out of the subcommittee, it then needs to get on the legislative calendar of the whole committee - completely at the discretion of the committee Chair. That one little thing right there has killed far more legislation than any vote. If the Chair doesn't want it on the calendar, it simply "dies in committee". But if the Chair wants it to pass, it will.
This is also why it's so interesting that Senator Crapo, as the Republican head (Ranking Minority Member) of the Finance Committee, introduced the bill - if it was just a political stunt, some junior Senator not on the committee at all would have introduced it. That does indicate Senator Crapo, at least, would definitely like to see this bill passed. Gemtech and a couple of other suppressor manufacturers are located in his homestate of Idaho, so that may play a role too. Relationships trump everything, and one scotch with a senator or a senior staffer can get a lot of things done that money can't. Including, simply, help build a genuine understanding of an issue.
From there, the bill has to get on the legislative calendar for the whole chamber, which generally will happen if a committee Chair wants it to, though it may take political and legislative favors to get it with the senior leadership of the chamber, depending on who is in control (the individual, and their political priorities at that time). Legislators who were not on the committee during the markup process have the opportunity to introduce amendments to the bill as well, which are also voted on.
When both chambers introduce and vote on an "identical" bill, which they often are in the beginning, this process of markups and amendments results in them being different in the end. But both chambers of Congress need to pass an identical bill for it to go to the President's desk. So, the process is that both chambers do their own thing, pass their versions of a bill, and then senior leadership from both chambers gets together and negotiate out identical bills, adding and removing parts to unify them. Then the identical bills get sent back to each chamber, they vote on it, and if they both pass as-introduced then the bill goes to the President to be signed into law.
So, yeah...a lot can happen during that process, and it can take quite a while. I won't personally be letting this legislation change any of my suppressor purchase plans. But if it passes, I'd likely be getting a few more that I don't presently have plans to get.
