From: bigmongo1963@gmail.com   
      
   Gaston Glock: Inventor of popular handgun dies aged 94   
      
   27th December 2023, 10:51 EST   
      
   Gaston Glock, the Austrian engineer who invented the Glock handgun, has died   
   aged 94.   
      
   The Glock company said in a statement that its founder's life's work would   
   "continue in his spirit".   
      
   The weapon has been used by armed forces, security personnel, gun owners and   
   criminals around the world.   
      
   Its rise was cemented by American pop culture and appearances in Hollywood   
   blockbusters including science-fiction action film The Matrix Reloaded.   
      
   Despite the popularity of his creation, Glock has been described as a   
   reclusive billionaire who spent most of his time at a lakefront estate in   
   Austria.   
      
   He was rarely in the news, only making headlines when a book about his   
   business was published in 2012, after a divorce from his first wife in 2011   
   and when a business associate tried to have him killed in the late 1990s.   
      
   In the latter incident, the hired attacker, a professional wrestler, beat him   
   seven times on the head with a rubber mallet but Glock, then 70, fought back   
   and managed to knock out his assailant.   
      
   "Gaston Glock charted the strategic direction of the Glock Group throughout   
   his life and prepared it for the future," the company said.   
      
   It added that its leader had "revolutionised the world of small arms" and   
   "succeeded in establishing the Glock brand as the global leader in the handgun   
   industry".   
      
   Glock, who was born in 1929, studied mechanical engineering at a college in   
   Vienna. He later founded a consumer goods business in a town outside the   
   Austrian capital.   
      
   In the early 1980s, the business branched into military supplies and answered   
   a call from the Austrian army that was looking to update its pistols.   
      
   Glock designed and patented a lightweight 9-millimetre semiautomatic handgun,   
   which could fire 18 rounds and be easily reloaded.   
      
   The gun gained a loyal following among military and police personnel worldwide.   
      
   Paul Barrett, the author of Glock: The Rise of America's Gun, wrote that the   
   weapon had become "the Google of modern civilian handguns: the pioneer brand   
   that defines its product category".   
      
   Forbes estimated Glock's personal fortune at $1.1bn (£863m) in 2021.   
      
   The Glock also found a place in US pop culture. "Get yourself a Glock and lose   
   that nickel-plated sissy pistol," actor Tommy Lee Jones said in the 1998 movie   
   US Marshals.   
      
   American rappers Snoop Dogg and Wu-Tang Clan also worked the gun into their   
   rhymes.   
      
   The weapon was also featured in Hollywood blockbusters including action films   
   Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and The Matrix Reloaded.   
      
   Over the years, gun-control advocates have criticised Glock for popularising a   
   weapon which was easy to conceal, all while holding more ammunition than   
   similar guns.   
      
   It has received its share of controversy. The Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein   
   was found by US soldiers hiding with a Glock in a hole in the ground in 2003.   
      
   In 2018, a US Marine Corps veteran with suspected mental health issues killed   
   12 people in a busy bar in California, including a policeman.   
      
   Ian David Long legally owned a Glock semi-automatic handgun, which had an   
   extended magazine that is illegal in the state of California.   
      
   Meanwhile, a US gun company faced backlash for producing a customised Glock   
   pistol that looked like a children's toy made of Lego.   
      
   Glock rarely responded to criticism from gun control campaigners. He also   
   refused to join other weapon manufacturers who signed a voluntary gun control   
   deal with the US government in 2000.   
      
   He is survived by his wife, a daughter and two sons.   
      
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