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.

The American Rounds vending machine is located at the store�s entrance
beside the checkout counters. Next to it is a line of miniature carts made
for children to push around the store.