A company has installed vending machines that sell ammunition in grocery stores in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas, raising concerns among gun control advocates.
a triangle of bullshit states I couldn't give a fuck less about. It's hard to contain my surprise here about such a goofy ass backwards thing in these states lol
It really is! I ran out of ammo yesterday when I was shooting up an Oklahoma daycare center. Walked across the street to the Walmart and got another 50 rounds of 7.62 from the vending machine. I was back to shooting toddlers in like 5 minutes flat! So convenient!
can't wait for the day when you can buy slaught-o-matics from a vending machine in 'murica. What is the fricking use case for buying Ammo at a grocer now at a vending machine?
"Oh I forgot to buy ammunition for my school shooting, better hit up Walmart and get some."
Why not skip the middleman and equip every building with explosive vending machines that set a timer if you put in a quarter? There's nothing more American than mass slaughter of innocents.
I'd be easy to vend, I guess. It's shelf-stable, don't have to control the temperature of the machine, doesn't go stale (well, within a reasonable period of time).
But...does it make sense for the buyer?
If you're going to own a firearm, you should probably practice with it. If you practice with it, you're probably going to use more than a few rounds in the course of that practice. If you're going to use more than a few rounds, doesn't it make more sense to buy in bulk rather than getting a few rounds from a vending machine?
I mean, it seems like getting mini bags of flour or something. It's not that one can't do it, but I just don't understand the use case.
I don't know. Maybe someone carries their firearm with them (addressing the issue of needing to have the firearm to use the ammo) and then spur of the moment decides to go shooting at a private range (my limited experience has been that public shooting ranges tend to sell supplies at the range if you need something)?
Vending machines work really well when you want something in a small quantity that you're going to use immediately, and don't mind paying a premium for it. Especially if you didn't know that you'd need it in advance or it needs to be refrigerated or something. A cold soda or a bag of peanuts at a trailhead or something, okay, I get that.
But I don't see how well that works for ammo. Like, it just doesn't seem to fit all that well with the characteristics of the things that I can think of that do sell well in vending machines.
How much rounds you shoot really depends on what kind of shooting you do and what cartridge your intended on using.
It looks like it sells in normal boxes so I can see someone getting use out of buying a few boxes from it. That said, the fiscally responsible thing to do is buy online in bulk. Ammoseek.com lets you cross compare prices from different retailers.
I do worry about the absence of the human element. If someone smells like alcohol, or gives off any red flags -sellers should refuse the sale. If someone wants to access bullets, but a human refuses to sell to them for liability reasons, they can come to the machine instead.
It’s bad, don’t get me wrong, but most gun owners keep at least some ammunition on hand and gun nuts frequently stock up when things go on sale (or are just always buying cuz…. Zombie apocalypse….)
A store clerk isn’t going to be able to tell the difference from all of 5 minutes or less of interaction. Drunk sure, but even then, if the drunk has or can get the firearm anyhow…. It’s almost certain there’s at least a full mag.
I live in a progressive urban area far from the Southern US. I can think of at least 2 different stores near me that sell groceries and ammunition. From my experience, groceries + ammo is pretty common for many big-box stores in the suburbs.
Those who read the article will know that the machine scans your ID and your Face. So this is as secure as having the stuff behind the counter. And more secure than selling online.
I'm a gun-grabbing repeal-the-second type, but this isn't offensive or unusual.