What do you think of Vending Machines that sell Ammunition?

[AviatorTom]

In grocery stores at some towns in the US, vending machines that sell ammunition have appeared.

Here's the story, from Associated Press...

Milk, eggs and now bullets for sale in handful of US grocery stores with ammo vending machines

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?

Please vote in the poll.

GOOD idea

BAD idea

Updates

+1 y

Wife says to husband. "We need milk. While you're there, can you pick up some ammo for my Glock."

[TheorionMage]

For the SAME reason powerful opiate pain killers aren't dispensed from vending machines! There are no societal safeguards automated into a purely 'for profit' convenience dispenser. (Once upon a time, you COULD buy.45 cal. Thompson submachine guns mail order through the Sears & Roebuck catalogue! There's a reason they called it 'the ROARING 20's! )

Is the gun owner so apathetically lackadaisical as to NOT KNOW when their self defense or hunting firearm's ammunition is running low?
WHY would they find going to a licensed firearms dealer to purchase ammo 'inconvenient'? "Honey, I'm going out to pick up some cold cuts and a couple hundred rounds of 9mm hollow points..."

For a time, I WAS a duly registered & licensed CLASS III NFA firearms (restricted full auto) LEO dealer!

READ the legally-prosecutable restrictions on the BATF Form 4473, regarding the sanity and criminal record prohibitions to sales to a prospective Purchaser!

[Lowly_Grump]

Good, only if there is a prosthetic vulva you have to lick very well until the machines decides that you qualify for a free gift. ﾠ

[SaoirseS]

Novel idea, but not exactly a good one. I doubt they'll last. Sure, a few will buy a box just to see if it really works, but lack of sales is already the reason some are being removed. Cost of goods is the real issue. The mark-up on vending machine goods for about anything is pretty high. If I want to snack on something at the dealer while waiting for my car to be serviced, I can get a single small cookie out of a vending machine if I'm willing to shell out $1.50. If you wanted to buy an iPod out of a gumball machine (for a premium), Best Buy had several machines at a few major airports, but those are gradually getting removed because they're not making any money.

With ammo costing what it costs these days, savvy hunters and recreational shooters buy what they need in bulk to save money. I don't know of any such shooters who would buy ammunition on impulse from a machine in the produce aisle.

[purplepoppy]

If I want into a gun store drunk, high, or in a obvious bad mental state, would they still serve me? I'm going to guess no, so where's that layer of safety here.

[Pterodon]

I can buy ammo drunk. No law against that. No law against buying a gun drunk either

[purplepoppy]

They're ought to be.

[Pterodon]

Salespeople aren’t law enforcement

[purplepoppy]

No but they should be allowed to use common sense.

[Pterodon]

This is America and we have certain freedoms and this is one of them

[purplepoppy]

Perhaps if you didn't sell guns to drunks you'd get through a week without a mass shooting.

[Pterodon]

They’re really not that often considering the entire gun population

[purplepoppy]

So what do you consider an acceptable level of mass shooting?

[Pterodon]

I’ll put up with gun crime so I can own and carry period

[Pterodon]

We Americans don’t like government telling us what we can or cannot buy. It’s called freedom of choice and it is instilled in us since birth

[purplepoppy]

Just saying you'd kill each other a lot less

[Pterodon]

Maybe maybe not. That’s debatable murders and suicides would still happen

[DrPepper12]

@Pterodon take away their immunity from liability and carry insurance and theyll wise up real quick

[DrPepper12]

@Pterodon Does that really sound rational to you?

[Pterodon]

@DrPepper12 try and take my guns. You’ve tried product liability before and it doesn’t work remember?

[Pterodon]

I don’t have carry insurance. Not required where I live

[DrPepper12]

@Pterodon im talking take away manifacturers indemnity. Watch the price soar and personal insurance will be so high as to make the purchase prohibitive.

[bolverk]

Its a good Idea, not everyone can get to an FFL and given that shipping companies like UPS/Fedex etc are refusing to accept shipments of ammunition leaving the vending machines as another option even though there will be a mark up on the ammunition it carries and the fact you have to put your Driving Licence or another Photo ID which the machine checks against your face. See the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/YjLCM16v6fA

[RingOfFire]

Personally I'm not into guns. Have nothing against them, just not a high priority in my life at this time. I fully support anyone who wants to own them.

But I am into anything that sticks the Second Amendment into the Democrats" faces.

If it will help those mentally challenged people in the Democrat party understand what the words "shall not be infringed," mean, then I am all for the vending machines. I don't even care whether anyone uses those machines or not, it's the symbolism I support.

[DrPepper12]

Always forget the well regulated militia part... I wonder why? 🤔

[MrOracle]

Impractical for me, but these machines typically only dispense hunting calibers (not handgun ammo and not ammo that's commonly used in military rifles), and they tend to be located in places where people travel to in order to hunt (deer, elk, hogs, etc.). I don't really see a problem.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

I think a lot of people here are not realizing that in like 60% of America, there's nothing strange or unacceptable about shooting your gun just about anywhere you want. You can go get your groceries, meet up with your boy at a nearby field and throw apples in the air for target practice.

[DrPepper12]

Maybe 60% by area but certainly not by population

[Telekinetic-Potato]

@DrPepper12 probably a good point

[hahahmm]

Indifferent. As a gun owner, I can buy in local gun shops or online. It's easier than messing with a vending machine. Plus you have a huge selection of ammo types in the other places. Some think these machines are setup by the ATF to try and spy on who is buying ammo. I doubt it because they already know who legal gun owners are based on who has bought guns & they DO NOT CARE about criminals with guns unless they are trying to get PR points once in a while.

[WindAtMyBack]

I think it's stupid and probably an expensive way to buy ammunition. But with tens of millions of gun owners, possibly over a hundred million, it only takes a tiny percentage buying from vending machines to make it a good business.

Considering how many types of ammunition there are, I can't see a vending machine stocking more than a small amount of even the most popular rounds.

[hahahmm]

Agree about the machine being limited. Also, everybody I know who has guns already has so much ammo, they're not going to be at the store and think, "I really need 100 rounds of ammo right now". It's not like cigarettes or beer.

[hahahmm]

Now a machine like this at a gun range could do a lot of business. Especially non lead ammo at an indoor gun range. But i bet the store owner can make more money just selling the old fashioned way.

[Nikki1989]

It is like they are saying, please rob us at gunpoint. We will even supply the ammo. Only in America.

[Alli112]

How about no? I would strongly prefer the the sale of guns and gun related items at least be overseen by a real human with the ability to refuse sale if there's warning signs or the person is inebriated or something.

[Daniela1982]

Makes it easier for gangs and bad people with bad intentions to get ammo. What would keep possible school shooters from getting their hands on bullets? What idiots came up with this plan anyway?

[Kaneki05]

I voted a good idea but only because I want to give Americans what they asked for and see how bad it gets before those who claim guns are good change their mind.

[DrPepper12]

And we would deserve it... I live in a VERY sick society 😥🤬

[NamerOfStars]

My first thought "I'm very dubious", but apparently they're real- and running of facial recognition programs.

I'm a LOT more scared about that than I am about more people running around with bullets.

[patois]

It's a good idea. I had the same idea several years ago. I saw how they were using id scanners and facial recognition software for alcohol sales through roboshops and thought, hmm you could sell ammo the same way in little hunting/fishing kiosks. It's interesting that someone else had the same idea and moved on it. It's a way to automate the sale of a product, it can be open 24/7 with low wage works in remote facilities and still cover all the same basic legal checks.

[ManOnFire]

Wonder how long before a crew with a pickup truck will swoop in to do a quick job and haul off with one of those to sell on the black market.

[DrPepper12]

Is this real? 😳😳😳 Holy shit rural america usa is a helluva lot more fucked up than JD Vance wrote about!! Yeah, he lit rural people up in hillbilly elegy and then got their votes. MAGA is dumber than a pile of 💩

[blueonblack22]

I agree this is really stupid (if it’s real). But you got to be at least 21 to buy guns and ammo. Probably a joke.

[blueonblack22]

Yeah it’s real. Although I am a gun owner and pro 2nd amendment I am completely against this. It supposedly scans your ID and does facial recognition to verify your age. But still it’s a really stupid idea.

www.nytimes.com/.../...ition-vending-machines.html

[DeeDeeDeVour]

As a person who repeatedly trains handling firearms responsibly, I find this idea reckless.

[NathanDavis]

in Japan, the bullets would be kawai...

[handsomelad70]

Kahwi Leonard?

[blueonblack22]

I am pro second amendment and I think this is really stupid. This is just giving ammo (no pun intended) to leftist gun control freaks.

[coachTanthony]

When the shit hits the fan all I am thinking about is grabbing a twinkie and a box of ammo at the same time lol

[RetroReviews]

Wow I never thought I would see that that's almost like something you would see in the classic RoboCop movies or something. 😳 Yikes

[Levin]

Guess that's one of those only in America things...

[Sasquach]

Hard to say, a lot of things can happen to an unattended round. It only takes one tampered round to ruin a barrel and send a shooter to the hospital.

I support the idea, but don't trust the execution

[Surely]

Middle of the road.
If ammo vending machines are like most others. Only the desperate people would pay the inflated prices at the vending machines! On line purchases is where the discount prices are!

[JustinTheGreat]

It doesn’t get more American than that lmaooo

[dustybiker2]

They should install them on rooftops? Make access easier? .. They are ridiculous, of course.

[DarkLegacy]

Only in the USA could this be a thing. Im surprised they do not have buy one get one free offers in supermarkets.

[LiamJHayden]

I'm quite libertarian, but come on now. This is nuts. Little kids using their lunch money and going out and hitting them with hammers to see what happens?

[Iron_Man]

A horrible idea a 12-year-old could purchase it and put it in his father’s gun and play around with it when the father is not around very bad

[paledreams]

America, I'm not American or in America, is just something completely unique to the world 🌍🌎

[OtterMan68]

just another reason why the US has the violent crime/gun crime rate of a third world country

[AimeeKyle]

It doesn’t matter to me either way. There are plenty of places to pickup ammo…. maybe it would increase supply / decrease prices?

[Danny_dan92]

I would say that’s convenient… unfortunately there’s no way in hell you’ll find those in my state

[handsomelad70]

Another example of the Armed American Madhouse.

[Quigly]

No different than any store selling ammunition or the internet. You don't need I. D. to buy ammunition.

[andreasderjuengere]

A good idea to spread.

I suggest:

airports

schools

mosques

embassies

trump towers

public government buildings in general

court houses

[Unit1]

😆😆😆

[Anonymous]

I agree with Chris Rock on this. The hell with gun control we need bullet control.😆😆😆

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VZrFVtmRXrw

[electromagnetic]

Very American.

[DryGermanGuy]

Only in America, part 85734.

[juliammm]

why not a pre-loaded gun for emergencies?

[juliammm]

From a legal perspective, carrying ammunition is easier than carrying guns. So a gun vending machine may be better...

[juliammm]

[FreyaRed]

That's more American than coca cola

[OlderAndWiser]

Probably not a good idea.

[lokiloko]

From my perspective, a foreign to America. WHAT A BUNCH OF FUCKING WEIRDOS

[WhitneySnow]

I don’t like it but I can’t change the laws

[douride2]

Only in the US eh.

[Massageman]

Not a very good idea.

[Massageman]

I'm far less worried about lawful owners than some knot-head breaking into the unit.

[the29thhuman]

It’s what you guys voted for.

[DrPepper12]

*Some psychos voted for. I assure there are sane, non-violent, woman supporting, education & healthcare funding non-obese people here! We just dont make headlines.

[the29thhuman]

Oh I understand 🙃

[OhLongJohnsoning]

Anything to make a buck, right?

[MemeSupreme]

what the hell LMAO

[Anonymous]

Supplies for the Democratic genocide

[Anonymous]

Dumbest thing ever!

[exitseven]

Definitely an idea whose time has come

[Juxtapose]

Seems fine to me.

[Pterodon]

It’d be convenient for me