The Glock handgun was created by Austrian engineer Gaston Glock, who passed away at the age of 94.
The Glock firm released a statement stating that the life’s work of its creator would “continue in his spirit”.
Armed forces, security guards, gun owners, and criminals all around the world have employed the weapon.
American popular culture and cameos in Hollywood blockbusters, such as the science fiction action movie The Matrix Reloaded, solidified its ascent.
Glock has been portrayed as a reclusive billionaire who lived most of his time at a lakefront house in Austria, despite the fame of his product.
His only notable media appearances came from a book about his business that was released in 2012, his 2011 divorce from his first wife, and an attempted assassination attempt on his life in the late 1990s by a business associate.
In the second incident, Glock, then 70, fought back and was able to knock unconscious his hired attacker, a professional wrestler, after he had been hit seven times in the head with a rubber mallet.
“Gaston Glock charted the strategic direction of the Glock Group throughout his life and prepared it for the future,” according to the business.
It went on to say that its CEO had “successfully established the Glock brand as the global leader in the handgun industry” and “revolutionized the world of small arms.”
Glock, who was born in 1929, attended a college in Vienna to study mechanical engineering. Later on, in a town outside of Austria’s capital, he established a consumer goods company.
The company expanded into military supply in the early 1980s after receiving a request from the Austrian army to modernize its handguns.
A lightweight, quickly reloadable 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun with 18 rounds of capacity was created and patented by Glock.
Around the world, police and military forces developed a devoted following for the gun.
Paul Barrett, the author of Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun, described the firearm as “the pioneer brand that defines its product category: the Google of modern civilian handguns.”
In 2021, Forbes projected Glock’s net worth to be $1.1 billion (£863 million).
Additionally, the Glock became popular in US culture. Star Tommy Lee Jones quipped, “Get yourself a Glock and lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol,” in the US Marshals movie 1998.
Rappers Snoop Dogg and Wu-Tang Clan from America also incorporated guns into their songs.
Hollywood movies like The Matrix Reloaded and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines also starred the weapon.
Glock has been under fire from proponents of gun control over the years for making a handgun that was more concealable and could contain more ammunition than other firearms popular.
It has generated a fair amount of controversy. In 2003, US soldiers discovered Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein concealed in a hole in the earth, brandishing a Glock.
In a crowded California pub in 2018, a former US Marine Corps member with possible mental health problems killed 12 people, including a police officer.
A Glock semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine—which is prohibited in the state of California—was lawfully acquired by Ian David Long.
A US gun manufacturer, meanwhile, came under fire for creating a customized Glock pistol that resembled a Lego kids’ toy.
Glock seldom ever answered criticism from proponents of gun control. Additionally, he declined to sign a voluntary gun control agreement with the US government in 2000 along with other weapons makers.
His wife, two kids, and a daughter survive him.
