A company has installed computerized ammunition vending machines in grocery stores in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas, allowing customers to buy bullets along with a carton of milk.
American Rounds said its machines use an ID scanner and facial recognition software to verify a buyer’s age and are as “quick and easy” to use as a tablet. But activists are concerned that selling bullets through vending machines could lead to more shootings in the United States, where gun violence killed at least 33 people on Independence Day alone.
The company says age verification technology means transactions are as safe or safer than online sales, which may not require buyers to prove their age, or in retail stores, where there is a risk of theft.
“I’m very grateful to those who take the time to get to know us and don’t just make assumptions about what we do,” said CEO Grant Magers.
“We’re very pro-Second Amendment, but also pro-responsible gun ownership, and we hope to be improving the community environment.”
There have been 15 mass killings involving a firearm so far in 2024, compared with 39 in 2023, according to a database compiled jointly by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
“Innovations that make ammunition sales safer through facial recognition, age verification and serial sales tracking are promising security measures that belong in gun stores, not somewhere you buy milk for your kids,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice president of law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety.
“In a country awash in guns and ammunition, where firearms are the leading cause of death among children, we do not need to further normalize the sale and promotion of these products.”
Magers said grocery store managers and other retailers have approached the Texas-based company, which launched in 2023, with the idea of selling ammunition through the automated technology. The company has one machine in Alabama, four in Oklahoma and one in Texas, and plans to install one more in Texas and another in Colorado in the coming weeks, he said.
“I think people were shocked when they thought about the idea of selling ammunition in a grocery store,” Magers said.
“But as we have explained before, what is the difference with Walmart?”
Federal law requires a person to be 18 to buy rifle and shotgun ammunition and 21 to buy handgun ammunition. Magers said his machines require the buyer to be at least 21.
The machine works by asking the customer to scan their driver’s license to prove they are 21 or older. The scanner also checks that it is a valid license, he explained. A facial recognition scanner then verifies that “you are who you say you are as a consumer.”
“At that point the product transaction can be completed,” he explained.
“The whole experience lasts a minute and a half once you get familiar with the machine.”
The vending machine is another method of sale, in addition to brick-and-mortar and online retail stores. Everytown for Gun Safety published a report in March revealing that several major online ammunition retailers apparently failed to verify the age of their customers, despite requirements.
Last year, an online retailer settled a lawsuit filed by the families of victims of a 2018 Texas high school shooting. The families said the 17-year-old gunman was able to purchase ammunition from the retailer, which failed to verify his age.
Vending machines for bullets or other age-restricted materials are not entirely new. Companies have developed similar technology to sell alcoholic beverages. One company has marketed automated kiosks to sell cannabis products in dispensaries in states where marijuana is legal.
A Pennsylvania police officer founded a company about 12 years ago that places bullet-vending machines in private clubs and shooting ranges for the convenience of customers. The machines do not have age verification but are only placed in places where a minimum age is required to enter, said Master Ammo owner Sam Piccinini.
Piccinini spoke with a company years ago about incorporating AI technology to verify a buyer’s age and identity, but at the time the cost was too high, he said. In the case of American Rounds, a machine had to be pulled from a facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, because of poor sales, Magers said.
According to Magers, the machines have sparked a lot of interest in rural communities, where there may be few retailers selling ammunition. American Rounds machines are found in Super C Mart and Fresh Value supermarkets in small towns such as Pell City, Alabama, with more than 13,600 residents, and Noble, Oklahoma, home to nearly 7,600 people.
“Someone in that community might have to drive an hour or an hour and a half to get supplies if they want to go hunting, for example,” Margers explains.
“Our grocery stores wanted the ability to offer their customers another category that they felt would be popular.”
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