Gaston Glock, inventor of handgun that bears his name, dead at 94

Gaston Glock, an Austrian engineer who invented the Glock handgun, died Wednesday. He was 94.

The Glock company announced the billionaire’s death on its website. No other details were provided. The Austrian news agency APA also confirmed his death, according to Reuters.

Through the years, the Glock has been the weapon of choice for law enforcement officers, national security forces, gun hobbyists and violent criminals worldwide, The New York Times reported.

“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 succeeded in establishing the Glock brand as the global leader in the handgun industry,” the company wrote on its website. “His internationally renowned Glock Perfection stands for uncompromising quality and maximum customer satisfaction.”

Glock was reclusive, rarely emerging into the public eye. He lived on a lakefront estate in Austria and was protected by guards, attorneys and servants, the Times reported.

In 1999 a business associate attempted to have him killed, but Glock knocked out his assailant, according to the newspaper. In 2011 he divorced his wife at the age of 82 and married a 31-year-old woman, and in 2012, he returned to prominence when Paul M. Barrett published “Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun.”

Forbes estimated that the Glock family was worth approximately $1.1 billion in 2021, Reuters reported.

Glock was born in Vienna on July 19, 1929, the son of an Austrian railroad worker, according to the Times. He had not handled a weapon since World War II, and his company specialized in military knives and consumer goods, including curtain rods, until the 1980s, Reuters reported. That was when officials with Austria’s military sought a new type of weapon.

After overhearing two officers discussing a military contract for handguns, Glock spoke to them and experts on the weapon, the Times reported. He then designed and patented a lightweight 9-millimeter semi-automatic weapon that could rapidly fire 18 rounds. Glock’s invention could be reloaded easily with a clip in the handle, according to the newspaper.

In 1982, the Austrian Army ordered 20,000 Glock 17s. The weapon was Glock’s 17th invention.

Glock has since been vilified by gun-control advocates and hailed by gun lovers. Barrett, however, wrote that the Glock handgun has not been commonly traced to crime scenes, the Times reported.

“Glock, then, is not a particular villain within the fraternity of firearms,” Barrett wrote. “Nor is he a hero -- regardless of what Hollywood tells us on both scores.” In summation, he added, “Gaston Glock is one of the giants in handgun history, deserving of mention alongside Colt, Browning, Smith and Wesson.”

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