Some supermarkets in the South are now selling ammunition in vending machines

In some US states, adults can now purchase gun ammunition from AI-powered vending machines right inside their local grocery store.

The company that makes them says they are a safer way to sell ammunition than online or in stores. But experts worry about the growing availability of these weapons in a country where gun violence is already widespread.

American Rounds LLC currently stocks its “ammo vending machines” in eight supermarkets in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas (at least one was removed earlier this month from an Alabama store, according to local reports). They’re launching another one this week in Colorado, and say many more are on the way.

“We’ve had requests from Hawaii, Alaska, California to Florida and every state in between for the most part,” CEO Grant Magers told NPR. “We’re working on fulfilling orders on the machines for about 200 grocery stores right now.”

The Dallas-based company, which Magers said has about 10 employees, has found itself in the national media spotlight this month. But it has been supplying vending machines to stores since November 2023, when it installed its first one in a Fresh Value store in Pell City, Alabama.

Magers said he was contacted earlier this year by “some strategic partners that we’ve done business with in another space” who were interested in potentially using high-tech vending machines to sell ammunition in grocery stores. His team set out to survey the landscape.

“Ammunition…is traditionally sold in stores,” he explained. “It’s just on display, like cereal boxes in a grocery store.”

Federal law prohibits dealers from selling handgun ammunition to anyone under the age of 21 and longgun ammunition to anyone under the age of 18.

The same federal laws that prevent people from getting guns because of factors like their criminal history also apply to ammunition, but they don’t require sellers to run background checks, according to Giffords, a gun control research and advocacy center. Only a handful of states have passed laws requiring background checks or licenses to buy ammunition.

Magers said the way ammunition is currently sold — online and on the shelves of gun stores, sporting goods stores and big box retailers — makes it easy for people to steal it and for minors to order it illegally from behind a keyboard.

“When we looked at the market, we wanted to create a safer environment for ammunition while respecting the integrity of the 2A community,” he said, referring to the Second Amendment.

Magers acknowledges that not everyone sees self-service ammunition vending machines in supermarkets as a breakthrough. But he says they’re not like the Redbox stands or old-fashioned vending machines many people imagine.

Instead, he describes them as 2,000-pound, triple-locked, double-walled steel boxes that sit indoors, monitored by security cameras and restocked only by approved members of his staff.

A federal license is not required to sell ammunition, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said in a statement to NPR. It added that commercial sales “must comply with state laws as well as all applicable federal laws.”

Magers says the company has no current plans to use the technology for background checks, but will continue to comply with federal, state and local laws.

“If you look at the way ammunition is currently sold in our country, we are the safest and most secure method of retailing ammunition on the market today,” Magers added.

Gun violence prevention researchers and gun control advocates remain unconvinced.

Kris Brown, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement that stores agreeing to host the machines are putting their customers and communities at risk, and also opening the door to legal liability.

“We need to get these machines out of our grocery stores, and we need to do it now,” she added.

Machines scan faces and IDs to verify customers’ ages

Distributors carry cartridges from major brands of shotguns, rifles and handguns that are typically available at other retailers, Magers said. Some inventory varies by location based on the phase of the hunting season and what’s popular in certain communities.

“Somebody told us they wanted a .410 caliber shotgun shell in that particular community because a lot of people there use it to chase away varmints, snakes and things like that that come onto their property,” he explained.

Vending machines use touchscreen technology: customers can scroll through and select the products they want.

To pay, they have to scan their ID, which Magers says serves both to verify that they are of legal age (which is 21 on all American Rounds machines) and that their ID is not fake or expired.

The machine then performs a facial recognition scan to match the buyer’s face to their ID. If it doesn’t, the transaction is canceled. Magers emphasizes that the company does not store or sell this data.

The vending machines are all located in rural supermarkets, Magers said, where hunters would otherwise have to drive an hour or more to buy ammunition at a big-box store. He added that the vending machines have increased traffic at local grocery stores and also seem to be selling well.

The company restocks the machines every two to four weeks depending on their location, he added.

Magers says “98 percent” of the feedback his team receives is positive.

“We get up to 20 emails per hour of full support,” he said, adding that requests for the machines come from individual grocery stores as well as larger groups.

Magers estimates the company could deploy 20 machines a month with its current workforce, but it is trying to expand quickly – including by raising funds – to meet that demand.

He dreams of eventually expanding the machine’s offerings to include things like hunting and fishing licenses and National Rifle Association memberships and says some of those could be available by the end of this year.

Experts say the technology carries risks but also promises.

Gun violence prevention and cybersecurity experts told NPR they have doubts about vending machines.

“I’m not sure what problem the company is solving that wouldn’t be solved by responsible ownership of any facility that sells munitions,” says George Tita, a professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine.

The solution to preventing minors from buying ammunition, he said, might be to not sell it online or illegally in the first place, “rather than using facial recognition and ID at your local grocery store.”

In addition, he adds, vending machines raise a whole new set of concerns. For example, they could sell ammunition to people who aren’t legally allowed to own a gun, such as those convicted of serious felonies or certain domestic violence crimes.

And they may not be alert to signs of distress or other warnings that a customer might use the ammunition to harm themselves or others.

“A vending machine isn’t going to be able to tell you, ‘Hey, are you okay?’ or ‘Why do you need this ammo?’” Tita added.

Mar Miller, who shopped at a Super C-Mart in Noble, Oklahoma, that houses such a machine, expressed similar concerns.

“So if they look weird or crazy, who knows,” Miller told member station KOSU. “I mean, that’s something you can judge as an individual better than a computer can.”

Experts say regulating ammunition is as important as regulating the guns themselves.

“Obviously, you can’t shoot a gun without ammunition,” says Chethan Sathya, director of the Center for Gun Violence Prevention at Northwell Health.

Sathya says AI-enforced age requirement on vending machines could potentially Help prevent ammunition from falling into the wrong hands.

“This is not a substitute for background checks, which are common-sense public health policy,” he said. “But it could be a progressive approach to at least understanding identity and making sure people are of the appropriate age.”

As long as the machines work, of course.

Andrew Whaley, senior technical director at Norwegian cybersecurity firm Promon, told Business Insider that the technology is likely not 100% immune to hacking or bugs, which could facilitate illegitimate transactions.

“The simple truth is that as retailers continue to digitize services like this and infuse them with advanced technologies, they inevitably expand the attack surface for cybercriminals, turning every innovation into a potential vulnerability,” he said, adding that bad actors could theoretically take advantage of any weaknesses in scanners to bypass its security measures.

In general, making ammunition available in more places is dangerous from a public safety perspective, Sathya says, citing studies that show that increased availability of firearms and ammunition leads to higher rates of injuries and related deaths.

“If you increase access to ammunition and it’s just that “It’s much easier for someone to go to their local store and buy it, so it’s kind of common sense that certain rates of gun injuries and deaths are going to increase, like suicides, mass shootings in public and unintentional injuries or potentially some types of homicides,” he added.

The United States is already grappling with high rates of gun violence, prompting the health minister to declare the situation a public health crisis last month. According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, the country recorded some 8,934 homicides, 17,060 injuries, and 284 mass shootings in 2024 alone.

In theory, Sathya says, the machines could do even more to promote responsible gun ownership — such as performing background checks and including information on how to safely use and store ammunition.

“It’s important that firearms be stored separately from ammunition, unloaded and locked so that children, the elderly and yourself cannot accidentally injure someone or someone commits suicide or homicide in the home,” he added. “So I think there’s an opportunity there, if this company wants to seize that opportunity, to really improve firearm safety and public health.”

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