An ammunition company has installed vending machines in three states, with plans to expand to more states in the future, WFAA, a Texas-based outlet reported on Friday.
American Rounds has installed vending machines that dispense ammunition in six grocery stores across Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama, according to WFAA. Grant Magers, the company’s CEO, says that his company currently has requests from over 200 stores in nine states for his vending machines.
“We’re the safest, most secure method of ammunition sales on the market currently,” Magers told WFAA. (RELATED: Whistleblowers Allege ATF Is Drafting Rule That Could Effectively Ban Private Firearm Sales)
Kip Tyner, a city official in the Alabama city of Tuscaloosa, is skeptical of the vending machines, telling CNN that he is concerned that the machines may allow bullets to end up “in the hands of people who are not that responsible.”
Magers told WFAA that traditional gun stores and online marketplaces don’t do a good job verifying the age of customers, unlike his machines. “Any minor can go to a website and click ‘hey, I’m 21’ and they’ve got their parent’s credit card and they’ve just ordered 1,000 rounds to their house,” he said.
Anyone wishing to purchase ammo from one of American Round’s vending machines must insert their ID into it and allow the machine to scan their face so their identity can be verified, according to CNN.
Ammunition is on display in a gun shop.(Photo by ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images)
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agency that regulates the sale of firearms and ammunition, greenlit the machine, telling CNN that “a federal license is not required to sell ammunition. However, commercial sales of ammunition must comply with state laws as well as any applicable federal laws.”
The office of the Oklahoma attorney general confirmed to CNN that the machines appeared lawful. The machines supply ammo for rifles, shotguns and handguns, offering a variety of different calibers.
California, Florida and Hawaii are among the states American Rounds is considering expanding into, according to CNN. The company will expand into Colorado, and set up an additional machine in Texas, within the next couple of weeks.
Hawaii has recently taken a stance against gun rights, with the state’s supreme court ruling in February that the Second Amendment clashes with the “spirit of Aloha.” In California, meanwhile, a law took effect this year that bans firearms from most public places.
American Rounds did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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