“So how does this work, exactly? Well, once you’ve picked out the ammunition you want to purchase, you have to scan your ID. The vending machine then uses facial recognition technology to verify your ID matches your face. Once that’s been confirmed, you pay your money and the box of ammo is all yours.”
I know at least two convenience stores near my home in central Virgnia where I can pick up a box of shells or 9mm ammunition, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a full-service grocery store stepping up to offer ammo for sale.
The company American Rounds has actually installed their automated ammunition vending machines in six grocery stores; four in Oklahoma and two in Alabama, where the machines have drawn the interest of local media (and local politicians) in places like Tuscaloosa.
During a briefing of the Tuscaloosa City Council before their regular slate of meetings, city council president Kip Tyner asked police chief Brent Blankley and other municipal leaders to explain a vending machine selling people ammunition at the Fresh Value store on at the corner of Skyland and McFarland Boulevards.
“I got some calls about ammunition being sold in grocery store vending machines,” Tyner said. “I thought it was a joke, but it’s not.”
He’s right – the automated dispenser is no joke, it’s one of the very first unmanned vending machines installed by American Rounds, a company looking to revolutionize how ammunition for handguns, rifles and shotguns is sold.
By Cam Edwards
