Review: Bullet Vending Machines Debut in U.S. Grocery Stores

The company claims its machines are more effective than store shelves at preventing shoplifters or underage purchases.

American Rounds has rolled out vending machines in a half-dozen grocery stores in the South, with plans to expand later in 2024. The machines are not for lottery tickets or gumballs, but for bullets.

I trekked to a Fresh Value grocery store in Pell City, Alabama, to try one out. Shoppers choose from the available stock on a giant touch screen. Selection is limited to common gauges and calibers, with more variety for handguns than for long guns. I grabbed a box of bullets for my .38 special revolver. But for the 1936 16-gauge shotgun passed down from my grandfather, I was out of luck: Only 12- and 20-gauge shells were on offer.

Federal law puts the same age limits for legal purchase of ammunition as for guns: 18 for rifle and shotgun shells, 21 for handgun bullets. American Rounds' machines scan your ID and verify you with AI facial recognition software, a process like setting up Face ID on an iPhone. (A company spokesman tells Reason that it uses "facial mapping" to match people to their IDs, and that "information is never shared, stored, or sold.")

While gun control advocates may recoil at bullets in readily accessible vending machines, the company claims its machines are more effective than store shelves at preventing shoplifters or underage purchases. In fact, the time my bullets were most likely to be stolen was when I left them in the car to go back into the store to buy candy for the trip home.