Er...this is a strange title. The closest the author comes to saying that he almost died in a mass shooting is this:<p>&gt; <i>Do you know how a properly functioning society would react to an event like San Bernardino? I do — because I’ve had the misfortune of living through such an event. On the 28th of April, 1996, a gunman equipped with an AR-15 assault rifle — the same kind that the San Bernardino shooters used — opened fire in Port Arthur, in Australia. 35 people were killed and 23 were wounded. It remains one of the world’s deadliest shootings by a single person.</i><p>Uh, maybe he was actually present during the shooting? But &quot;I’ve had the misfortune of living through such an event&quot; is a pretty vague and passively-constructed statement. It could mean that he was in Australia during the time of the shooting and subsequent change to gun rights. Which, OK, is fine -- a constructive, convincing argument need not be rooted in emotional authority...but my particular problem is that this piece is mostly invective and ad hominem...while the author&#x27;s recounting of the mass shooting is brief and antiseptic.<p>I mean, technically, I can say I &quot;lived through 9&#x2F;11&quot; even though it happened while I was halfway across the country...