Shots fired in debate over facial recognition-enabled bullet vending machines

In unsurprising news, U.S. politicians are expressing alarm over the introduction into grocery stores of vending machines that sell ammunition for handguns, rifles and shotguns using algorithmic facial recognition for age verification.

In a lengthy letter addressed to Steven Dettlebach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren warn of the potential risks of bullet vending machines, and recommend that ATF “use the full extent of the Bureau’s authority to prohibit them in supermarkets, grocery stores and other general retailers frequented by people of all ages and walks of life.”

The Senators’ primary argument is that the machines, developed and distributed by the Dallas-based company American Rounds and outfitted with face biometrics from IDScan.net, allow easier access to ammunition for “prohibited individuals and those who pose a threat to public safety.”

“Easy access to ammunition helps to fuel our country’s gun violence epidemic, which now claims more than 44,000 lives annually,” says the letter. “Studies show that increasing the availability of firearms and ammunition leads to more injuries and deaths, especially suicides.”

To many, this would seem a sound enough argument on its own. But the senators also feel the need to warn – erroneously – that “the machines also use often unreliable and inaccurate facial recognition technology for identity verification.” And while they cite stats from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as proof that face biometrics are biased, both studies are more than five years old.

Dubious claims about facial recognition accuracy muddy argument

In fronting the argument that FRT is inaccurate, Markey and Warren ignore an important fact that risks undermining their larger point: namely, that 1:1 face matching models are typically accurate to about 99.97 percent. IDScan.net provides algorithmic identity verification for age assurance and fraud reduction in high-compliance industries, meaning if its tools don’t meet standards, their clients risk regulatory violations.

In the case of bullet vending machines – which scan a user’s ID card to validate their age and authenticate the ID, then use a face scan to match the ID holder to the card – there is little chance of inaccuracy leading to bullets being sold to the underage. And a mismatch is more likely to lead to someone being denied the purchase than to freer access; the NIST study quoted points out that “in a one-to-one search, a false negative might be merely an inconvenience.” It is difficult to see how 1:1 facial matching for automated retail purchases – even bullets – could lead to targeted policing or false accusations, which are typically the risks associated with 1:N facial recognition.

A much bigger problem than the accuracy of a retail age verification algorithm, one might suppose, is that the machines could sell bullets or shells to prohibited individuals, and place no limit on the amount of ammo one can buy. The senators’ letter notes a finding from the Center for American Progress, which notes that “[m]any of the mass shootings in recent years have involved individuals who amassed a substantial stockpile of ammunition prior to committing their horrific crimes without drawing concern from vendors or law enforcement.”

Letter asks about background checks for buying ammunition

The potential for combustion – in both ammunition and people – is also a problem: “although bulk ammunition may be stable when stored properly, it is combustible, and its presence in supermarkets prompts reasonable public safety concerns.” And, getting to the heart of the problem, automated ammunition vending machines “make it faster and more convenient to buy the projectiles that wound and kill. Increasing the ease of buying ammunition for people who are struggling to control their impulses and rage will put more lives in danger.”

While American Rounds says it does not collect user data, the possibility of aggregating sensitive personal information is perhaps the largest risk from a biometric standpoint. (Cue paranoid fears about the government spying on law-abiding gun owners.)

The senators’ letter concludes with a request for answers from ATF to a number of questions. Are the machines compliant with existing laws governing the sale of ammo? Has their public safety risk been assessed, and what can ATF do to ensure they are operating within the law?

And, finally, should Congress consider legislation requiring background checks for ammunition sales?

“The proliferation of these vending machines underscores the urgent need for enhanced regulatory oversight and robust safeguards to prevent unintended public safety consequences,” says the letter.

Vendor expanding but doesn’t want ammo machines everywhere

Perhaps sensing the heat of regulatory fire on its back, American Rounds is looking to expand quickly across the U.S. The firm currently has bullet vending machines in supermarkets in Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma and most recently Colorado, where a machine was installed in a market south of Denver. ABC News reports that it has plans to install kiosks in California and other areas of the American West.

In an interview with KKCO-TV, American Rounds CEO Grant Magers says the company isn’t just putting bullet vending machines in grocery stores willy-nilly. “I think there has been some misconception that we’re just going to place these everywhere that a vending machine-style product would go. That’s not the case at all.”

Magers does not specify exactly where the best spots are for bullet vending machines – of which the company claims hundreds more are on the way – but says “there is a need within the entire industry to look at technology and try to apply it in a way to make the firearms market, the ammunition market, safer for the communities.”

Once again unsurprisingly, the company has caught the attention of the mainstream U.S. media. A piece in Slate describes how the writer, a 22-year-old with no firearms training, was able to purchase ammo from an American Rounds machine in Noble, Oklahoma.

The New York Times, NPR and CNN have also run coverage of American Rounds.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  identity verification  |  IDScan.net  |  regulation  |  retail biometrics  |  United States  |  vending machine