The US loves guns, that’s not a secret. Not only do almost half of Americans say they live in a home with guns, but the U.S. also has more guns per person than any other country in the world (second only to Yemen in terms of gun density). The United States is the only country with more guns than people. It’s not a surprise that in some states you can now walk into a grocery store and order bullets from a vending machine like you would a candy bar or a soda.
Okay, kind of. Not quite. American Rounds, the business that made the vending machines that started this new trend, says it uses AI and facial recognition to make sure that people who buy bullets are of legal age. It’s a little more difficult than buying a Twix, then.
In the U.S., there are shockingly few rules about buying guns, but some of the ones that are there are based on age. It is against the law for people under 18 years old to buy bullets for long guns like rifles and shotguns. People under 21 years old must be present to buy bullets for pistols. So, American Rounds has added a way for people to prove their identity to its bullet vending machines. This is meant to check how old the person is who is buying the ammunition.
On its website, the company says, “Our smart retail automated ammo dispensers have built-in AI technology, card scanning capability, and facial recognition software.” “Each piece of software checks to see if the person using the machine matches the ID that was scanned.”
Cleveland.com was the first to report that American Rounds machines were becoming common, saying that you could find them in six places in Oklahoma and Alabama. A local Alabama news station said on Friday that one of the machines had been taken down from a store in Tuscaloosa after “the legality of the machine was questioned” at a city council meeting. The city’s legal staff said the machines were legal as long as they followed the rules for their zone. The store said it “took down the machine on July 3rd because it wasn’t making any sales,” according to the news source.
American Rounds was asked by Gizmodo for more information about their business. If they reply, this story will be changed.