The machine uses ID verification and facial recognition technology to ensure the buyer is at least 21-years-old, according to its manufacturer. Credit: Shutterstock / Sophon Nawit
Shoppers at one San Antonio-area grocery store can now buy ammunition next time they pick up a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk or a six-pack of beer.

Earlier this week, Lowe’s Market on Sattler Road in Canyon Lake unveiled a new vending machine that dispenses ammo the way others spit out sodas, chips and candy bars.

However, the machine, produced by Dallas-based American Rounds, is equipped with advanced safety features, according to assurances in a social-media video from company CEO Grant Magers. The equipment uses driver’s license verification technology and a 360-degree camera to ensure the person using it matches the ID, he explained.

Only those 21 and over can use the vending gear, according to the company.

We feel safer already.

“The machines really provide an opportunity for safe, affordable and available ammunition sales,” Magers said in the video clip, used to promote the installation of an American Rounds machine in an Alabama supermarket.

The Canyon Lake machine is the sixth American Rounds bullet automat to be deployed in the U.S. In addition to two in Alabama, the company has four in Oklahoma.

“Over the next year, we’re looking forward to seeing these [machines] roll out all throughout the South and Southeast,” Magers said in the clip.

In other words, it’s a safe bet those of us living in gun-obsessed Texas will be seeing more.

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This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...