Looking to pick up some shotgun, handgun, or rifle rounds during your next trip to the market? At a half-dozen grocery stores in the South, that ammo is already at your disposal, via vending machines from American Rounds, reports KOCO 5. The company says it has already set up at least six of the Automated Ammo Retail Machines (AARMs), which weigh up to 2,000 pounds, in stores in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas, with plans for more in the latter state and Colorado, per Quartz. In fact, American Rounds CEO Grant Magers tells the outlet they've received more than 200 requests for AARM units, from stores in nine different states.
The company notes that via the vending machines, customers 21 and older can now "buy ammunition with the same ease as using an ATM," per Newsweek. Magers insists, however, that American Rounds supports "law-abiding, responsible gun ownership," and that the machines' ID scanners and facial recognition technology would ensure that only those who can legally purchase ammo would be able to do so. Magers says that he anticipates the machines, which he tells Quartz that they're "well-secured from theft," would have to be restocked every two to four weeks.
In fact, he thinks the vending machines are a safer option than buying ammo online or from a store shelf. Those environments "lead to inadvertent sales to underaged purchasers and/or (in the case of retail stores) a high theft rate." Not everyone is thrilled with the move. "THIS IS REAL," an alarmed Shannon Watts, founder of gun safety group Moms Demand Action, wrote on X with a post of a news story on the new vending machines. (More ammunition stories.)
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