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.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    39
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    10 months ago

    That’s amazing, it never once occurred to me that Glock was still alive.

    It would be like learning Beretta was still alive (but much less likely - founded in 1526 :)

    • SonnyVabitch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      I had a similar one a few years ago when I’d discovered that Henry Heimlich of manoeuvre fame was still alive. (I checked it again now and he’d died in 2016.)

      • prole@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        I was reading about this a few months ago. It blew my mind that the Heimlich maneuver didn’t exist until the mid 70s. So, what, you just died before that? I guess the only “tool” we had was the ol “reach down their throat with your fingers and try to pull it out manually” technique.

        Crazy.

  • Stamets@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    Glock also makes a device to assist with horse insemination.

    The more you know 🎵

  • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    22
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    Noooooo ooooonnnneee…

    Fucks like Gaston

    Designs guns like Gaston;

    Designs horse jizz injectors for fun like Gaston!

    He was exceptionally good at inSEMMMMinating!

    He’s dead and gone…

    GASTOOOOONNNN.

    :(

    Edit: @Stamets

    • Garbanzo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      10 months ago

      That punk pulled a Glock 7 on me. You know what that is? It’s a porcelain gun made in Germany. Doesn’t show up on your airport X-ray machines, here, and it costs more than you make in a month.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Its rise was cemented by American pop culture and appearances in Hollywood blockbusters including science-fiction action film The Matrix Reloaded.

    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.

    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”.

    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.

    In 2018, a US Marine Corps veteran with suspected mental health issues killed 12 people in a busy bar in California, including a policeman.

    Meanwhile, a US gun company faced backlash for producing a customised Glock pistol that looked like a children’s toy made of Lego.


    The original article contains 572 words, the summary contains 156 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!