“Nah, there’s mo mainstream media bias!”
That is the headline to this news report by Metro and carried by MSN on the death of Gaston Glock, the Austrian engineer who formed the Glock firearms company in 1963.
It’s as flagrant an example of biased journalists editorializing in news story headlines as you are ever likely to see. This represents a reporter, editor and publication distorting and manipulating the news to make a political statement. The anti-gun movement is especially fond of the appeal to emotion over facts that it represents.
Glock, as far as we know, never profited at all from anyone’s death or killing. He would have made the same profits if no one had ever fired one of his company’s guns. The headline is a lie, and yet MSN felt it was appropriate to circulate it on the web. The analogies to this kind of warped logic write themselves, and you can come up with them as easily as I can.
There was a time not so long ago when only underground newspapers, and supermarket tabloids would indulge in this level of garbage journalism.
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Pointer: Steve-O-in NJ
Ethics Alarms 
In the late Fall of 1990, my agency was planning to adopt an issued duty weapon for the first time. Back then, we were armed with a hodge-podge of revolvers and semi-auto pistols, everything from .38 Specials to .45 ACPs.
Our regional Glock distributor called to set up a demonstration session at our range. His people brought several Glocks in 9mm and .40 S&W for us to try. After we had all fired several hundred accurate rounds through the demo pistols with nary a bobble, the Glock rep took one of the guns and laid it down on the asphalt in front of his truck’s tires, then got in his truck and ran over the gun with both front and back tires, only to reverse the vehicle and repeat the action. We watched with bewilderment.
He picked up the Glock and said, “I know that some of you are wondering if a polymer handgun will hold up.” He walked to the firing line with the run-over Glock and proceeded to empty the magazine and two additional ones into the target, again without a hiccup.
He then asked, “Any of you guys want to do the same with your steel-framed guns?” There were no takers.
We adopted the .40 caliber Glock M22 for uniformed duty in early 1991. Plainclothes officers were issued compact M19 or subcompact M27 models in the same caliber. Glock became the duty handgun for about 2/3 of American law enforcement officers. I carried a Glock daily from 1991 until my retirement in 2014. I still carry at least one most days.
Thank you, and R.I.P., Gaston Glock.
P.S. I wonder, what would they write today about John Moses Browning?
And thank you for your service, Jim Hodgson (and for your many good, wise comments on EA). May you enjoy many more years of good health going forward.
Thank you, it was my privilege to serve.
They’ll have to cancel Jimmy Stewart, too. He dared to play David Marshall “Carbine” Williams in the eponymous 1952 movie, Carbine Williams, that depicted the life of said North Carolina moonshiner and convicted murderer of a sheriff’s deputy.
https://ammo.com/articles/david-marshall-williams#:~:text=In%201972%2C%20David%20Marshall%20Williams,outside%20of%20Wade%2C%20North%20Carolina.
Williams rehabilitated himself in prison by developing firearms, most notably the M1 carbine, in the prison shop (with the blessings of the warden). I don’t think he “made billions”, though. It’s an intriguing story, and makes up a large display, including his actual workshop, in the NC Museum of History. Worth a visit if you’re nearby.