Coming to Terms: A Mass Shooting Survivor’s Reckoning with Vulnerability and Self-Protection

In COMING TO TERMS, attorney David Frankel tells the story of his survival of the mass shooting at the 101 California Street building in 1993 and the post-traumatic personal journey that transformed him from a gun control activist to a gun owners' rights advocate. David almost died on the 35th floor of San Francisco's 101 California Street building when a deranged gunman with three handguns burst in and started shooting there on July 1, 1993. The murderer killed several of David's close friends. Filled with anguish, David channeled his grief by getting involved with the gun control movement. But as David traveled across five states, a series of thought-provoking events triggered self-reflection and a reevaluation of his vulnerability and of the right to self-defense and to keep and bear arms. COMING TO TERMS examines David's journey from emotion-inspired ignorance and dependency born of fear to self-reliant enlightenment and individual empowerment. His is a journey filled with fear of being a victim, false hope in government, acceptance of vulnerability, reflection on the inability of laws to keep one safe, and, ultimately, acceptance of personal responsibility for one's own safety. In short, COMING TO TERMS tells the story of David's post-incident intellectual and emotional reckoning, and of his coming to terms with these realities.