Gaston Glock, Inventor of the Gun That Bears His Title, Dies at 94

Overcoming authorized hurdles and benefiting from promotional campaigns, the Glock turned an outstanding vendor, particularly in the US. It arrived within the mid-Nineteen Eighties, when crime charges had been hovering and law enforcement officials felt outgunned. New fashions and calibers with prolonged magazines had been launched. Two-thirds of America’s police forces, together with New York Metropolis’s, adopted the Glock, as did many federal, state and county businesses.

Mr. Glock established manufacturing crops within the U.S., Europe and Asia and amassed a big private fortune. He purchased jet planes and a yacht, constructed an equestrian middle to indulge his ardour for horses, and turned his trip retreat at Velden, Austria, right into a mansion on a guarded property. He traveled and entertained associates, together with the right-wing extremist Jörg Haider. However he averted publicity and valued his privateness.

He was vilified by gun-control advocates and hailed by gun aficionados. Regardless of the Glock’s well-liked depiction as a legal’s weapon and its use in a few of America’s most spectacular mass shootings, Mr. Barrett, the writer of “Glock,” mentioned the gun had not generally been traced to crime scenes — certainly, far much less so than different firearm manufacturers.

“Glock, then, is just not a selected villain throughout the fraternity of firearms,” Mr. Barrett wrote. “Neither is he a hero — no matter what Hollywood tells us on each scores.” In summation, he added, “Gaston Glock is among the giants in handgun historical past, deserving of point out alongside Colt, Browning, Smith and Wesson.”

Gaston Glock was born in Vienna on July 19, 1929, the son of an Austrian railroad employee. He attended public colleges and, after his temporary navy service, graduated from a technical institute. Educated as an engineer, he joined an organization that made hand drills, labored his approach as much as administration and held a sequence of supervisory jobs.