METRO
The Austrian developer of one of the world’s most famous handguns died yesterday at the age of 94.
Gaston Glock, a ‘reclusive’ engineer, formed the Glock company in 1963 in Deutsch-Wagram, nearby Vienna.
The Glock company announced his death yesterday saying that their founder ‘not only revolutionised the world of small arms in the 1980s, but also succeeded in establishing the Glock brand as the global leader in the handgun industry’.
It is unknown exactly how many people have died as a result of Glock handguns.
The company expanded around the world, including a US subsidiary founded in 1985.
Glock handguns are used by police and many countries’ military forces, as well as privately.
The weapon was significantly lighter, cheaper, and more reliable than the models available when it was created.
But many gun control advocates criticised Mr Glock for popularising powerful guns that they said were easy to conceal and could hold more ammunition than other guns.
The first mass shooting believed to involve a Glock handgun was in 1991 when George Jo Hennard shot 24 people and injured 27. He fired two guns, including a Glock 17, at diners in Luby’s Cafeteria, Killeen, Texas.
Mass shootings involving Glock handguns
Luby’s Cafeteria, 1991
Nepalese royal massacre, 2001
Erfurt school massacre, 2002
Virginia Tech, 2007
Tucson, 2011
Norway attacks, 2011
Aurora, 2012
Sandy Hook Elementary School, 2012
Charleston church, 2015
Kalamazoo car parks, 2016
Orlando nightclub, 2016
Munich shopping centre, 2016
Thousand Oaks bar and grill, 2018
Pittsburgh synagogue, 2018
Chicago hospital, 2018
New York subway attack, 2022
