The gun control lobby may not have a financial interest in American Rounds' Automated Ammo Retail System, but gun control activists are most definitely emotionally invested in the ammunition vending machines that are in operation in a handful of grocery stores around the country. In fact, if I were more conspiratorially minded, I might think that groups like Giffords and Everytown are silent partners with American Rounds given all the free press that the groups have generated for the company. 

The latest earned media for American Rounds comes from Alabama public radio affiliate WBHM, which spoke to several gun control activists about the company's machines, which are in operation in four Fresh Value grocery stores around the state. 

“The thing that is shocking is that our federal laws with respect to ammunition sales are so weak in this country that something like this is possible,” said David Pacino, the legal director for Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 

That’s the organization former Arizona Congressperson Gabby Giffords formed after she and 18 other people were shot in 2011. Pacino added, with a vending machine, there’s virtually no way to stop someone prohibited from purchasing ammo from doing so, as long as they are of legal age. 

“While it’s illegal for people with certain criminal histories or other disqualifying facts to buy ammunition, there’s no check to make sure that somebody is prohibited, doesn’t buy them,” Pacino said.

In most states, a store clerk selling ammo has the responsibility to stop a sale in certain situations. For instance, if a person is inebriated or seems mentally unstable. 

“If you have a human being who is on the other side of that sale, they can have a responsibility and do have the responsibility to make sure at least some of the most egregious forms of misconduct, or the most egregious red flags, aren’t being met,” Pacino said.

And if someone is sloppy drunk or acting deranged in a grocery store, one of the humans who work there is probably going to call police, whether they're purchasing ammo for a vending machine or Ajax from the household goods aisle. 

While Giffords' David Pucino (yep, the NPR affiliate couldn't even get his name right) just wants to see the ammo vending machines shut down, his colleague at Everytown sees an upside in the machines. 

Nick Suplina is the senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. He liked the technology American Rounds is using, just not on a vending machine. 

“Innovations that make ammunition sales more secure, like facial recognition, age verification or potentially tracking serial sales are promising safety measures, but they belong in gun stores, not in the place where you buy your kids milk,” Suplina said.

I guess Suplina is unaware of the fact that you can purchase ammo at Walmart, right along with your milk (and cookies too, if you're in the mood). Heck, my local feed store offers everything from scratch grains to nightcrawlers to 12-gauge shotgun shells, and one of my local gas stations has a pretty decent selection of ammunition for sale along with standard convenience store items like soda and candy. 

There's nothing new or particularly unusual about ammo being sold in places other than gun stores, at least in rural America. What's different about American Rounds is the automated process... and the full-throated freakout by gun control activists, which has only helped the popularity of the vending machines. 

The manager of the Pell City, Alabama Fresh Value store even told WBHM that the machine in his story's lobby wasn't getting a lot of use until the media and gun control groups discovered its existence, but "since the publicity, people are picking it up now.” 

American Rounds CEO Grant Magers should write some "thank you" letters to Pucino and Suplina, along with Brady head Kris Brown, who's also melted down over the vending machines. Their outrage is the best press that Magers could hope for, and he didn't have to spend a penny to generate buzz from coast-to-coast.