E649 - Roger Chiocchi - From Advertising Executive to Author, The Brushy Ridge Militia - Parents Take Gun Control Into Their Own Hands

E649 - Roger Chiocchi - From Advertising Executive to Author, The Brushy Ridge Militia - Parents Take Gun Control Into Their Own Hands

About the author
Eclectic is a word that aptly defines Roger Chiocchi. Constantly questioning, How does it work?, Chiocchi graduated from Ithaca College and then the Wharton School (MBA) with distinction. He then rose through the ranks at mega-agency, Young & Rubicam, to Senior VP where he ran the advertising campaigns for Advil, TWA, AT&T, Sears (the “Softer Side of Sears” campaign), among others. He then went on to eventually become President of Y&R subsidiary, The Lord Group, where he helped transition NYNEX to Bell Atlantic then to Verizon, while bringing in new accounts like The Sports Authority, the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, and HIP Health Plans.

Chiocchi regards himself as a perpetual student, constantly scouring YouTube for lectures on astrophysics, quantum mechanics and human consciousness and whatever else suits his fancy next. But why not? His appetite for knowledge is eclectic.

How a School Shooting Turned Suburban Parents into Federal Criminals.

Book: The Brushy Ridge Militia is about how the intersection of grief and helplessness leads a group of parents to become so enraged after a mass shooting to conclude that enough’s enough, compelling them to commit a major act of civil disobedience.
After progressing through the many stages of grief, the parents of the deceased children of Brushy Ridge, Ohio High School lobby Congress to pass tighter gun control legislation. When they attempt to meet with conservative Speaker of the House, Fred Grantham, he refuses and walks right by, emotionless, as they stand outside his office, displaying pictures of their precious children.

At that point, they conclude enough’s enough.

Upon return to their hometown, the parents feel like they’ve banged their heads against a wall. Why when over half of Americans want stricter gun laws, even after the tragedies of Sandy Hook, Columbine, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and, now, Brushy Ridge, why won’t Congress budge?

Hank Patrick, an attorney and father of one of the deceased students, tells them it’s because of twenty-seven ambiguous words called the Second Amendment. While many gun advocates hide behind those words to protect their right to unfettered access to guns of all types, those words say nothing of the sort, Patrick explains. What they do say is that Americans have the right to form citizen militias to fight a government that has become tyrannical.

They decide to be true to the words of the Second Amendment as originally intended and form a citizen’s militia, The Brushy Ridge Militia, and scheme to take Speaker Fred Grantham hostage until he agrees to bring more reasonable gun legislation to the floor.

By surreptitiously following Grantham’s moves and cleverly evading the FBI, the parents intercept Grantham at an apartment building in DC and bring him to a spot in rural West Virginia where no radio transmissions are allowed. For four days, they force him to watch the security cam video of the shooting and morgue shots of their cherished children.

Finally, he agrees, but shortly after, recants.

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