Audio e trascrizione di un podcast della National Public Radio americana (pubblicato nel 2012) che racconta la storia della fabbrica di armi Glock, nata come produttore di cardini per porte e coltelli e poi diventata, in pochi anni per la media del settore e superando un’iniziale cattiva fama, la leader del mercato delle pistole negli Stati Uniti.

“So how did this gun take over the market, essentially?”

“Well, one quick way of answering that is, you know, how did German and Japanese cars take over the market from the American automobile industry, which is every bit as storied as the American gun industry? The American gun industry had stopped innovating, and it had allowed its quality to slip. And more efficient, higher margin companies from abroad basically came to this country and ate its lunch, very much the way Toyota and Honda ate GM’s lunch.”

Parte del successo di Glock fu dovuta al suo fondatore, Gaston Glock, un personaggio singolare dalla vita avventurosa

“You know, we mentioned that there’s a type of backstory, Gaston Glock, kind of a colorful guy, himself, and -yeah…”

“Well, he went from being this very kind of pedestrian guy to being a, you know, a billionaire flying around the world on his own private jet and, you know, sure enough he attracted a large coterie of hangers on and aides. And by 1999 he was at odds with his chief financial adviser who hired a hit man to kill him when he became under the impression that Gaston Glock thought that he was cheating him. And out of that murder attempt, which Glock handily survived with out a handgun, I might add – he beat up the guy who jumped out of the shadows to kill him. He pulled…”

“The weapon of choice there being a…”

“Being a rubber mallet, of all things.”

“A rubber mallet, of all things. Not a gun.”

“No.”

Immagine da Public Domain Pictures