The Ammo Vending Machines Dilemma 

What’s More American Than Ammo Vending Machines? 

When I was a kid, which I like to think wasn’t that long ago, firearms were sold by mail order through the Sears catalog. I wore out the Christmas Wish catalog coveting a svelte little Browning semi-auto .22 that I never was able to afford. 

At the time, “school shootings” weren’t even a thing. To this day, that is proof enough for me that access to firearms doesn’t cause violent crime. 

That memory popped into my head when I recently heard that a Texas-based company has installed ammo vending machines in a number of grocery and convenience stores in three southern states. American Rounds makes and markets an automated ammunition dispensing machine that uses AI and facial recognition technology to verify a buyer’s identification and age via card scanning and facial recognition software. An ammunition buyer inserts their photo ID, and the machine conducts a 360-degree scan of the purchaser’s face to match it to the ID card before dispensing the ammo. 

Ammo On-The-Go 

American Rounds CEO Grant Magers said the vending machines, which have been placed in stores in Oklahoma, Alabama, and Texas, give those needing ammunition another avenue to purchase ammunition that wasn’t available previously. 

“Being able to move it into a place like a grocery store or supermarket makes it a lot more available to the public,” Magers said in a promotional video. “But we’re taking a different approach to it. Traditionally, ammunition is sold at outdoor-type stores and sporting goods stores and it just sits on the shelf. It’s very accessible, and because of that, there’s a high rate of theft. But with our machines, we have a very secure automated retail machine. We’re able to age verify… So, the machines provide an opportunity for safe, affordable, and available ammunition sales.” 

While the news is likely welcomed by many rural gun owners who might have to drive two towns over to buy a box of shotgun shells for their next dove hunt, predictably gun-ban advocates have a different idea about the new sales method. 

What Anti-Gunners Claim 

“In a country awash in guns and ammo, where guns are the leading cause of deaths for kids, we don’t need to further normalize the sale and promotion of these products,” Nick Suplina, Senior Vice President for Law and Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, told ABC News. The guns and kids figure, by the way, is a lie. And Suplina failed to mention how the new vending machines had anything to do with current violent crime rates. 

Of course, many in the so-called “mainstream” media had to insert some negativity into their reports about the vending machines—apparently just because. A report by ABC News in New York is an excellent example. 

“There have been 15 mass killings involving a firearm so far in 2024, compared to 39 in 2023, according to a database maintained in a partnership of The Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University,” the report stated. 

Of course, none of the ammo used by the violent criminals in those murders came from a vending machine, so the mention didn’t even belong in the story. Leave it to the media to mention violent crime any time the lawful sale of guns or ammo is discussed. 

Still, American Rounds CEO Magers is undeterred, noting that the vending machines will help many in rural communities. 

“Someone in that community might have to drive an hour or an hour and a half to get supplied if they want to go hunting, for instance,” Magers said. “Our grocery stores, they wanted to be able to offer their customer another category that they felt like would be popular. 

“I’m very thankful for those who are taking the time to get to know us and not just making assumptions about what we’re about,” CEO Grant Magers said. “We are very pro-Second Amendment, but we are for responsible gun ownership, and we hope we’re improving the environment for the community.” 

The Facial-Recognition Downside 

There are some gun owners, however, who say they won’t use the machines simply because of the facial scanning aspect of the purchase. Many prefer to not have any kind of record of what kind of ammo they have purchased for fear of the government accessing it and making some kind of ammunition registry, which would reveal what guns a person owns—indirectly making the ammo registry a gun registry.