Just another in a history that has seen the rise and fall of vending machines for items like marijuana and tobacco.
A 25-year police department veteran who now runs his own ammunition manufacturing and wholesale business, Piccinini, of Rochester, Pa., has two of his retrofitted vending machines at his local gun club.
The machines, which sell nearly every caliber of bullet from .22 to .45, are doing a brisk business and, Piccinini said, other clubs want his machines....
Piccinini’s machines sell both handgun and rifle ammunition, which are regulated differently. In Pennsylvania, people ages 18 and over can buy long gun ammunition and people over 21 can buy bullets for handguns. Critics say selling from a machine, without an attendant to ensure the purchase is legal, poses a problem.
Piccinini likens his machines to cigarette vending machines in social clubs, noting that a prominent sticker on them states, “You must be 21 years of age to purchase ammunition for use in handguns from this machine.” Since the club does not admit minors without adult guardians, and since anyone entering must pass through a security gate and swipe an ID card to enter, Piccinini does not believe there is a risk of illicit sales...
Selling bullets out of a vending machine, as opposed to over a counter, is "not a big deal," said Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Washington-based pro-gun control group Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
"Ammunition is widely available at ranges to begin with,and we don't take issue with that," Everitt said. "If they put it in a school, call me back."
Piccinini, who is running for Beaver County sheriff, a post he has twice sought unsuccessfully, believes criticism he has received for his brainchild will ultimately backfire and win him the votes of Second Amendment advocates in the March 19 Republican primary.