Two Alabama grocery stores are selling gun ammunition through vending machines powered by artificial intelligence.
The machines, located at Fresh Value stores in Tuscaloosa and Pell City, use facial recognition to verify a customer’s age and identity to make it easier to obtain firearm ammunition. The company, American Rounds, created the machine.
CEO Grant Magers described how the machine works in the video.
“We have a very secure vending machine. We can verify age, scan a driver’s license, and then do a 360-degree scan for facial recognition at the time of purchase and match the ID. So the machines provide a real opportunity to sell safe, affordable and available ammunition,” he said.
“[Customers] “We are very excited to have an ammo kiosk,” a Fresh Value representative said in the video.
However, the Tuscaloosa machine has since been dismantled after its legality was questioned at a city council meeting.
Tuscaloosa City Council President Kip Tyner thought the machines were a joke after receiving calls about them.
“I’ve gotten calls about ammunition being sold in grocery stores, vending machines, vending machines. Is that it? I thought it was a lie. I thought it was a joke, but it’s not,” he said.
The vending machines are legal and approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley said. Tuscaloosa thread.
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The company says the machines are located in four other locations in Oklahoma and the company plans to expand further.
“We’re really excited about where we’re going,” Magers said. “We’re going to continue to grow here in Alabama. We have machines that will be installed in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas.”
