Gaston Glock, the Austrian engineer who invented the Glock square pistol, The preferred weapon of police, some armies, even criminals, as well as amateurs, died at the age of 94.
The Glock company announced the billionaire’s death on its website, with no details provided.
Demonized by many, for being a protagonist in massacres and shootings, The Glock has also been embellished in Hollywood movies, featured in television dramas, placed on the belts of murderers and thugs, worn by two-thirds of America’s police officers. and the security forces of at least 48 countries. His silhouette is displayed in airports and is the focus of debates about gun control.
Rest in Peace to a legend, Gaston Glock.
Here is a picture of Mr. Glock circa 1988, demonstrating the operation of a Model 17 for the NRA’s American Rifleman Magazine. pic.twitter.com/VJqDS6nn0c
— NRA (@NRA) December 28, 2023
“Make it simple, make it perfect. Following this guiding principle, our founder, Gaston Glock, not only revolutionized the world of small arms in the 1980s, but also managed to establish the Glock brand as a global leader in the handgun industry,” the company wrote in your website.
“Their internationally recognized Glock Perfection is synonymous with uncompromising quality and maximum customer satisfaction,” he continued.
According to reports from The New York Times, In 2017, Forbes estimated Glock’s global sales at more than $500 million, with a 65 percent market share of pistols sold in the United States. In 2021, Forbes estimated Glock’s personal fortune at $1.1 billion.
Among the stories surrounding the billionaire there is a recurring one, that in 1999, a business partner tried to kill him, but Glock knocked out his attacker. In 2011 he divorced his wife at the age of 82 and married a 31-year-old woman, and in 2012 he returned to fame when Paul M. Barrett published “Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun.” “
Glock was born in Vienna on July 19, 1929, the son of an Austrian railway worker, according to the Times. He hadn’t handled a gun since World War II, and his company specialized in military knives until the 1980s.
Despite this, Glock catapulted to fame by patenting a lightweight 9-millimeter semi-automatic weapon that could rapidly fire 18 rounds. According to the newspaper, Glock’s invention could be easily reloaded.
In 1982, the Austrian military ordered 20,000 Glock 17s. The weapon was Glock’s seventeenth invention.
Since then, Glock has been praised by gun control advocates and hailed by gun lovers.
Glock himself rarely responded to criticism from activists, shied away from public debate, and in 2000 refused to join other gun manufacturers in signing a voluntary arms control agreement with the US government.
As Glock’s success grew, Gaston Glock became “a reclusive billionaire who owned his company and lived on a lakefront estate in Austria, protected by guards, lawyers, financiers and servants,” The New reported. York Times.
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