MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A company has installed computerized vending machines to sell ammunition in grocery stores in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas, allowing patrons to pick up bullets along with a gallon of milk.
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Vending machines like this one are selling ammunition in several locations across the United States.
American Rounds said their machines use an identification scanner and facial recognition software to verify the purchaser’s age and are as “quick and easy” to use as a computer tablet. But advocates worry that selling bullets out of vending machines will lead to more shootings in the U.S., where gun violence killed at least 33 people on Independence Day alone.
The company maintains the age-verification technology means that the transactions are as secure, or more secure, than online sales, which may not require the purchaser to submit proof of age, or at retail stores, where there is a risk of shoplifting.
“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.”
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“Innovations that make ammunition sales more secure via facial recognition, age verification and the tracking of serial sales are promising safety measures that belong in gun stores, not in the place where you buy your kids milk," said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “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.”
Magers said grocery stores and others approached the Texas-based company, which began in 2023, about the idea of selling ammunition through automated technology. The company has one machine in Alabama, four in Oklahoma and one in Texas, with plans for another in Texas and one in Colorado in the coming weeks, he said.
“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?”
Federal law requires a person to be 18 to buy shotgun and rifle ammunition and 21 to buy handgun ammunition. Magers said their machines require a purchaser to be at least 21.
The machine works by requiring a customer to scan their driver’s license to validate that they are age 21 or older. The scan also checks that it is a valid license, he said. That is followed by a facial recognition scan to verify “you are who you are saying you are as a consumer,” he said.
“At that point you can complete your transaction of your product and you’re off and going," he said. "The whole experience takes a minute and a half once you are familiar with the machine.”
The vending machine is another method of sale, joining retail stores and online retailers. A March report by Everytown for Gun Safety found that several major online ammunition retailers did not appear to verify their customers’ ages, despite requirements.
Last year, an online retailer settled a lawsuit brought by families of those killed and injured in a 2018 Texas high school shooting. The families said the 17-year-old shooter was able to buy ammunition from the retailer who failed to verify his age.
Vending machines for bullets or other age-restricted materials is not an entirely new idea. Companies have developed similar technology to sell alcoholic beverages. A company has marketed automated kiosks to sell cannabis products in dispensaries in states where marijuana is legal.
A Pennsylvania police officer created a company about 12 years ago that places bullet-vending machines in private gun clubs and ranges as a convenience for patrons. Those machines do not have the age verification mechanism but are placed only in locations with an age requirement to enter, Master Ammo owner Sam Piccinini said.
Piccinini spoke with a company years ago about incorporating the artificial intelligence technology to verify a purchaser’s age and identity, but at the time it was cost-prohibitive, he said. For American Rounds, one machine had to be removed from a site in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, because of disappointing sales, Magers said.
Magers said much of the early interest for the machines has been in rural communities where there may be few retailers that sell ammunition. The American Rounds machines are in Super C Mart and Fresh Value grocery stores in small cities, including Pell City, Alabama, which has a population over 13,600, and Noble, Oklahoma, where nearly 7,600 people live.
“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.”
Guns are the leading cause of childhood death in the US. Here are 6 tips to safely store firearms at home
How to safely store firearms at home
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For the past few years, guns have been identified as the leading cause of death for children in the United States.
There were 2,571 children aged 1 to 17 who died in shootings in the U.S. in 2021, 68% more than the 1,531 that occurred in 2000.
To help reduce the number of firearm-related deaths and injuries among children, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona called upon school and district administrators in January to talk with parents and guardians about safe firearm storage practices.
As experts on the safe storage of firearms – and as leaders of the University of Connecticut's ARMS Center for Gun Injury Prevention – we talked to The Conversation about questions we often get about the best ways to keep guns out of the hands of children. We offer the following tips:
1. Safely store all of your firearms
Nearly half of the households in the U.S. have at least one firearm, but only about 40% of firearm owners store all of their guns when not in use, according to data in a survey we recently fielded. Unsecured firearms have been linked to suicides, domestic homicides and accidental shootings. They also heighten the risk of unauthorized use, which includes theft.
2. Don't assume you can hide your guns
Kids generally know the hiding spots for the things their parents or caretakers do not want them to find, such as holiday gifts or Halloween candy. The same is true with firearms.
In 40% of gun-owning households with children, adults said their children did not know where firearms were stored, a 2017 study found. However, many of the children reported knowing and being able to access the firearms.
Researchers estimate that 75% of children who live in homes with guns know where they are stored.
Adults may think they can instruct children to leave firearms alone, but the 2017 study also found that 22% of parents wrongly believed that their children had never handled their gun.
3. Store ammunition separately
Research shows that locking ammunition separately from firearms further reduces the risk of firearm injuries in homes with children and teenagers.
While storing an unreadied weapon locked away may feel counterintuitive to those who own guns for personal protection, research shows that keeping firearms locked or unloaded, or both, can also reduce risk of injury.
4. Learn to talk about firearm safety
While some families may not have firearms in their home, eventually children go to other homes and, as they get older, go unsupervised.
Keeping children safe from gun violence requires normalizing conversations on firearm storage, even for people in households where no gun is present.
Approximately 45% of all unintentional shooting deaths of children under 17 occurred outside of their own homes. When children visit friends, we believe it's important for their parents to know if guns are present in the home they are visiting and, if present, whether those firearms are being safely stored.
For more information about how to discuss firearm safety, parents can visit websites such as BeSMART, End Family Fire and Secure Storage of Lethal Means.
5. Know the law
Twenty-seven states have some version of secure storage laws.
Based on our calculations using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states with child access prevention laws – known as CAP laws – have a gun death rate that is 65% lower than states that do not have CAP laws (12.33 vs. 20.38 per 100,000). Of course, states with and without CAP laws have many differences; therefore, the lower rates cannot be attributed to CAP laws alone. However, the presence of CAP laws is protective and reduces gun death.
In the absence of a federal secure storage law, the legal requirements around firearm storage and preventing unauthorized children from accessing weapons vary by state or municipality.
For example, Connecticut requires firearms be in a locked device when not in use.
Iowa prohibits the storing or leaving a loaded firearm around children 14 and younger if it is not secured by a trigger lock or a securely locked container or some other secure location.
Further, while Michigan only recently added a safe storage law, Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of a boy who committed a mass school shooting with his parents' unsecured firearm, was recently convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the case. Her husband's trial in the matter began on March 5, 2024.
6. Invest in a quality safe and/or locking device
There are various levels of locked gun storage, including trigger locks, metal cable locks, locked gun cases and gun safes. While storing a firearm and the ammunition in a locked combination or biometric device is safest, all of these methods can reduce the risk of gun injury and death. These locking devices can be purchased online, through some gun sellers or at sporting goods stores.
A biometric safe for a handgun is about US$65, a gun lock runs $55 to $75 dollars, and combination safes for long guns range widely from a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.
Family-school-community partnerships allow America's children to grow and thrive. By asking schools to share resources for secure firearm storage and communicate evidence-based safety practices, the Department of Education is helping schools address the leading cause of death among American children.
But families have to do their part, too. It begins by normalizing firearm safety conversations and storing firearms properly to keep children safe.