Vending machines selling ammunition will now be in grocery stores in Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma – a move that has generated mixed feelings from officials in those states.
American Rounds, the distributor of the machines, uses AI technology to scan the customers’ identification as well as facial recognition software to verify a customer’s identity, according to the company’s website.
The software works together to verify the buyer’s age and that the person using the machine matches the identification scanned.
Each machine sells ammunition for various firearm calibers, including rifles, shotguns and handguns, according to American Rounds.
Grant Magers, CEO of American Rounds, said local grocery stores approached him in the spring of 2023 about utilizing his technology to sell ammunition. The company rolled out its first dispenser in Alabama last November.
“It’s not much different than setting up any other business,” Magers said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has allowed the machines, telling CNN in a statement: “A federal license is not required to sell ammunition. However, commercial sales of ammunition must comply with state laws as well as any applicable federal laws.”
The Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General tells CNN a “review of state statutes indicates these vending machines appear to be lawful.”
CNN has reached out to the Alabama and Texas attorneys general to confirm the legality of the dispensers in their respective states.
Earlier this month, the ammunition dispenser in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was taken down and relocated by American Rounds.
“We as a business … made the decision to relocate that machine because we weren’t having the sales that we wanted to at that location compared to our other spots,” Magers said.
Kip Tyner, a member of Tuscaloosa city council, told CNN: “It may be getting in the hands of people who are not that responsible. I just don’t see it as a necessity.”
“There could be a dispute, and someone got upset with someone else and instead of cooling off and having to go to the store the next day they could go to the grocery store to get ammunition and use it for the wrong reasons,” Tyner said.
American Rounds plans to expand into more states, having already received offers from stores in California, Florida and Hawaii, among others, Magers said. The company, he said, is setting up two more dispensers in Texas and Colorado within the next couple of weeks.