A Dallas-area retailer made waves last week when it installed a kiosk to sell ammunition in a Hill Country grocery store. Despite criticism, American Rounds insists it's operating within Texas law and says it plans to expand in the state.
Richardson-based American Rounds rolled out its first vending machine for ammunition in Canyon Lake. They’re big, hulking machines with a touch screen that requires customers to provide an ID and a facial scan to buy rifle and pistol rounds, as well as shotgun shells. The machines require a customer to acknowledge they aren’t a felon before their purchase.
The company installed machines in Oklahoma and Alabama earlier this year. And in Texas, as in those states, they’re legal. Texas doesn’t require background checks for ammunition, though it does prohibit felons or people convicted of domestic violence charges from owning firearms and ammunition.
American Rounds CEO Grant Magers said he understands concerns that these kiosks could lead to ammunition winding up in the wrong hands, but said the company's protocols are within industry standards and state law.
“If someone's gonna knowingly lie, they're gonna knowingly lie. The only way to ever prevent that is if background checks are ever required for the retail sales, but they're not," Magers told KUT. "We don't make legislation, so we're not legislators. We are operating within the law and we will always operate within the law."
Magers said his company provides ammunition to law-abiding gun owners. He said sales through the machines are safer than those from online or traditional retail providers, who may not properly check IDs or store ammunition safely.
Magers added that the machines have been stood up in rural counties, where buying ammunition at grocery stores is fairly common.
Nicole Golden, executive director of Texas Gun Sense, said she learned about the machines when their expansion went viral. The gun control advocate said Texas has seen high-profile mass shootings in Uvalde, El Paso, Santa Fe and Allen over the last few years and that this is a step in the wrong direction.
"It really is so out of step and out of touch when you have a public health crisis to be just expanding access," she said. "It's very out of touch."
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy last month declared gun violence a public health crisis. Golden said she wishes lawmakers would expand red-flag laws in next year's legislative session, but knows the state is more likely to expand access to firearms.
American Rounds said its sales have gone up 900% in recent weeks.
