Bread, bacon, bullets: Company installs ammunition vending machines in grocery stores

Three states now have ammunition vending machines installed in grocery stores.

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Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas are the first states to get computerized vending machines where someone can go up and purchase ammunition with the touch of some buttons.

Additional machines are scheduled to be installed in Texas and Colorado by month’s end, The New York Times reported.

The machines were developed by American Rounds. The company says the devices use facial recognition and an identification scanner to make sure the person buying the ammunition is who they say they are and that they’re old enough to make the purchase, The Associated Press reported.

Using a touch screen, customers indicate whether they want rounds for a handgun, rifle or shotgun, then choose the specific type. Once the selection is made, they scan their ID and a camera snaps a photo of their face to confirm who they are and if they’re 21 or older. No data is stored or shared in the kiosk. All transactions are by card; no cash is accepted, the Times reported.

To buy shotgun and riffle ammunition a person has to be at least 18, per federal law. Handgun ammunition can only be purchased by someone 21 and older, AP reported.

The company says it’s a “quick and easy” process, as easy as a computer tablet, and that the age-verification technology is more secure than online sales.

“Our ammo is not accessible sitting on a shelf, and we are the only company that absolutely, 100 percent requires an I.D. verification,” Grant Magers, the chief executive of American Rounds, told the Times .

Magers told AP that the grocery store operators where they’ve been installed asked for the machines, adding that they’re in small cities where it may be a long drive — up to an hour and a half — to get ammunition.

“Our grocery stores, they wanted to be able to offer their customer another category that they felt like would be popular,” Magers told AP .

“People I think got shocked when they thought about the idea of selling ammo at a grocery store,” Magers said. “But as we explained, how is that any different than Walmart?”

But gun control advocates said that the vending machines are easily accessible and that more regulations over traditional sales would combat issues with ammunition theft and underage purchasing.

Gun safety advocates also note that there is something lost when the interaction between a buyer and seller is gone.

Dan Semenza said that if a person buying ammunition is in crisis, a vendor may pick up on it, the Times reported. With a vending machine, that connection and possible red flag is missed. Swmenza is the director of violence research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.

This isn’t the first ammunition-selling vending machine. A Pennsylvania police officer developed one more than a decade ago for private gun clubs and ranges, the AP reported. Master Ammo owner Sam Piccinini said the machines do not have an age verification system. He said he investigated adding artificial technology to verify a person’s age and identity but it was cost-prohibitive at the time.