Vending machines that sell ammo may be legal but not every Second Amendment supporter thinks they’re a good idea. In fact, the idea is crazy enough it could be a “sting.” The FBI certainly is interested to see if they can entice any of the Ultra-Extreme-MAGA crowd, who’s tinfoil hat slipped off a little, into buying the bullets for a mass shooting spree, while leaving an evidence trail of identification and facial recognition data. Even if you aren’t crazy enough to go out and shoot up a shopping mall, anyone unstable enough to get their ammunition from a grocery store vending machine deserves close observation, because they’ve got to be up to something.
Ammo with 24/7 convenience
Ammo never used to be considered an “impulse purchase,” like a candy bar or can of soda, but it’s being marketed that way. It’s totally legal, as long as the machine doesn’t dispense bullets to minors.
Whether it’s a good idea and whether there’s an actual demand for the machines are an entirely different set of issues.
Sure, Americans love guns. Half admit there are guns in the household. There are more firearms in the U.S. than there are people. That’s one of the ways we keep our government reasonably honest.
🇺🇸 VENDING MACHINES NOW SELLING BULLETS IN GROCERY STORES
Grocery stores in Alabama and Oklahoma are reportedly selling ammunition via vending machines equipped with AI for ID verification.
American Rounds' CEO touts convenience while local officials confirm legality after… pic.twitter.com/vv9AyqlmSv
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 6, 2024
If you own guns, you need to fire them once in a while. That means ammo for target practice or hunting. It’s not supposed to mean capping someone who took your parking space.
Hunters, security professionals and other responsible gun owners buy their ammo ahead of time. Usually in quantity and somewhere they can get a good deal. Serious collectors load their own rounds.
Only someone who would cap you for taking their parking space would need to get their bullets from a vending machine. Or maybe someone in Chicago who used their supply in a drive by, and didn’t want to walk around on the streets empty.

No sales to minors
The vending machine company allegedly responsible for the “new trend,” American Rounds, “uses artificial intelligence and facial recognition technologies to verify that buyers are of legal age to buy bullets.”
Thanks to the Constitution, the only regulations on buying ammo relate to age. You have to be 18 to purchase slugs and shells for rifles and shotguns and a full 21 to purchase bullets for handguns.
American Rounds “has created an identity verification mechanism for its bullet vending machines that can supposedly verify how old the person buying the ammunition is.” It uses Artificial Intelligence.
In Alabama you can purchase ammo from vending machines
The machines in Fresh Value stores in Tuscaloosa and Pell City use facial recognition for age and ID verification to streamline the process of purchasing firearm ammo. #2A
Developed by @americanrounds pic.twitter.com/xmzEAFSpCF— Steve Gruber (@stevegrubershow) July 6, 2024
“Our smart retail automated ammo dispensers have built-in AI technology, card scanning capability and facial recognition software. Each piece of software works together to verify the person using the machine matches the identification scanned.”
What they don’t mention is what happens to that data after the purchase is made. Does it get handed over to the federal government? Maybe to match up with similar ammo purchases or gun registrations? It may be legal but sounds extremely fishy to most folks who carry around NRA cards.
A “store in Tuscaloosa had removed one of the machines” after “the legality of the machine was questioned.” It’s legal but the store clarifies that wasn’t why the ammo machine was removed. They took it out “because of a lack of sales.“