A large wooden cross edged with a string of Christmas lights stands
proudly on the clean-cut lawn of a Noble, Oklahoma, home.

Surrounding houses are similar: Metal and glass crosses decorate gardens
and hang from porches next to twinkling wind chimes; you�d be hard-
pressed to find a home without an American flag waving out front, too.

It�s the definitive rural American city. Noble is deep in the Bible Belt
and home to about 7,700 people; its residents are statistically more
likely to be Republican, attend church, and own a gun.

So it�s fitting that this city was one of the first to see the
installation of a one-of-a-kind gun ammunition vending machine in its
local grocery store. The machines, sold by a company called American
Rounds, sell ammo for handguns, rifles, and shotguns, and use artificial
intelligence technology to verify the identity and age of each customer.
A bullet vending machine in a grocery store
Courtesy of Maddy Keyes

Just seven miles south of Norman�one of Oklahoma�s largest and most
liberal cities (relatively)�the Noble Super C Mart is one of four stores
in the state to have the 2,000-pound machine plopped down inside its
entrance. Alabama and neighboring Texas also have the machines�and
American Rounds CEO Grant Magers told me this is just the beginning.
??�What situation are you in where you�re like, �Oh, I need to get eggs
and I need to get ammo?� �

Immediately upon their installation, people from either side of the
Second Amendment debate voiced their appreciation or skepticism for the
bullets-made-convenient hunk of metal. And not just in the states where
the machines are located.

The New York Times, CNN, USA Today, and NPR were all quick to report on
the ammo machines, highlighting widespread concerns for safety and
regulation. And if you scroll the Facebook comment section of just about
any article on American Rounds, you�ll find a flood of polarizing
opinions.

�Well this is a step in the wrong direction,� one user wrote under a
Facebook post from Oklahoma broadcast station KOCO.

�WTF are these guys thinking?� My thoughts exactly, at first.

And perhaps most revealingly: �Hell yeah that�s the most American thing
I�ve seen and I love it.�

I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

My relationship with guns is a complex one. Living in Oklahoma, I�m used
to seeing crossed-gun Second Amendment bumper stickers on the backs of
trucks and gun holsters displayed proudly on people�s waists. I have
family members who are in the military and law enforcement�I was taught
to respect guns, not to fear them.

But here�s the thing: I do fear them. How could I not when there have
been over 300 mass shootings across the country just this year? So I
didn�t know what to expect�or how I would feel�when I drove to a grocery
store in Noble to visit one of the ammo machines.

The machines, as many familiar with the ammunition-buying world were
quick to point out, aren�t all that different from other ammo purchasing
methods. In fact, in some ways, it�s more regulated. The A.I. scans your
face and compares the image to your ID to verify its validity and your
age, similar to what you see in an airport. Magers, the CEO, said it can
detect a fake ID or if a person is using an ID that isn�t theirs. Federal
law prohibits dealers from selling handgun ammunition to anyone under 21
and long gun ammunition to anyone under 18, so the company set an across-
the-board 21-year age requirement.

Magers told me American Rounds doesn�t store customer information, but
some people are still concerned. Face-scanning technology, such as the
kind American Rounds� machines use, is one way companies can gather
biometric data, or data that identifies a person�s physical or behavioral
characteristics. Theoretically, this information could be used by
companies or agencies to track who is purchasing ammunition to develop
marketing or political campaigns targeted to those demographics. There�s
no comprehensive federal law regulating the use and distribution of
biometric data, though some states have passed measures to protect the
privacy of individuals.

�We are the only company in America that requires an identification check
at every single transaction,� Magers said. With brick-and-mortar and
online ammunition sales, there�s no guarantee IDs are always checked or
verified, he argued. The heavy and double-walled steel structure of the
machine is also less likely to be pilfered from than stores with
ammunition sitting on an open shelf. There�s no cap on how much
ammunition a single customer can purchase, though the amount is limited
by the machine�s capacity.
A man removes bullets from a vending machine.
American Rounds

Many people were understandably concerned by the machine�s 24/7
accessibility, which was advertised on the American Rounds website under
the banner �Convenience.� But after a conversation with Magers in which
he told me: �We�re not available 24/7,� I read from his company�s website
where it said exactly that. It turns out that was a marketing error and
the machines are not, in fact, available 24/7. Instead, they�re only
accessible during the operating hours of the stores where they are
located (they are indoors and typically monitored by cameras). The
website has since been updated.

Logistical concerns regarding the machines aside, the concept itself is
inherently divisive�for obvious reasons. Gun advocates have long argued
that ammunition should be more easily purchased and accessible, while gun
safety advocates push for the exact opposite.

�It�s either, �That�s pointless, why are we doing this?� or �That�s
cool.� There�s really nothing in between,� Joshua Harris-Till, the
communications lead for the Oklahoma chapter of the gun regulation
advocacy group Moms Demand Action, told me about the machines. When
American Rounds first made headlines, I�d say I fell into the former
category.

David Yamane, a professor of sociology at Wake Forest University and an
expert on guns in America, told me that any time something regarding guns
moves into the fore�like, say, an A.I.-powered bullet vending machine�it
just adds fuel to the fire.

The vending machines �are like this Rorschach test,� Yamane said. �You
put that in front of people and [their] responses tell you everything
about how they view guns generally.�

However, the issue isn�t clean-cut even amongst the staunchest gun
supporters. Don Spencer, president of the Oklahoma Second Amendment
Association, was initially enticed by the convenience of an ammunition
vending machine. Then he thought twice.

�This is a trap,� he told me. �It is a registration for the government to
find out who is purchasing what, and it�s not government business if a
peaceful citizen is purchasing ammunition.�

When told that the company promises never to store customer information,
Spencer was skeptical. �I don�t trust it,� he said. �Who can you trust?�

Spencer said he�s talked to several firearm owners who echoed his
concerns for privacy regarding the machines. His opinion is that there
should not be government regulation of legal firearm and ammunition
purchases, nor should there be an age restriction for buying bullets.
However, he conceded that the vending machine would be a fallback for
him; something to use when he�s in a pinch and alternative purchasing
options are not available.

As in Texas and Alabama, Oklahoma is a deep-red state full of Second
Amendment supporters. In 2021, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt even approved a
measure declaring Oklahoma to be a Second Amendment Sanctuary State,
which essentially means certain federal gun regulations will be
considered an infringement on the rights of citizens.

A 2023 Pew Research survey found Republicans are more than twice as
likely as Democrats to personally own a gun; 47 percent of adults living
in rural areas report owning a firearm as well, compared to just 20
percent in urban areas.

Harris-Till thinks the presence of ammunition machines in grocery stores
exemplifies the pervasiveness of guns in America and the need for
stricter regulations. After all, he said, ??�What situation are you in
where you�re like, �Oh, I need to get eggs and I need to get ammo?� �

American Rounds has plans to expand, with more than 200 stores already
contracted to host the machines, Magers said. However, as Yamane pointed
out, it�s likely the novelty will wear off and the machines will fade
into the plane of near-obscurity alongside ATMs and Amazon Prime
deliveries. It will become a new normal�and perhaps that�s the whole
point.

�When people got off the boats back in the 17th century, they were
carrying firearms,� Yamane said. �Firearms have always been a part of
American culture.�

The Noble Super C Mart is unassuming. The white-brick building sits next
to a hardware store and is only a five-minute walk from the Roserock
Baptist Church. Outside, the sign reads, �Super C Mart, a hometown
tradition.� Bibles and bullets, it seems, are at the heart of that
tradition.