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The cover of "My Parents Open Carry"

(Courtesy Photo)

LANSING, MI — A children's book written by two Michigan men about parents who carry pistols has a newfound interest after being featured on several national television programs.

The book "My Parents Open Carry" was featured on the "New Rules" section of the HBO show "Real Time with Bill Maher."

“It took off like crazy because liberals don’t like people with guns,” said Brian Jeffs, one of the book's authors.

The book was written in 2011 by Jeffs and Nathan Nephew, who co-founded Michigan Open Carry. Both have daughters.

“We knew when we wrote the book if it got out in a large liberal audience, we would get this kind of reaction,” said Jeffs. “In fact, we were hoping for it, it just took a while.”

The men both live in the Lansing area, but aren't specific because they say they've received some death threats since the book debuted.

The idea for a children's book came soon after they formed the open carry organization.

Jeffs said they would give presentations and get the same questions. “We wanted to consolidate those questions and put them in a book forum,” Jeffs said.

They said it's a good starting off point to discuss guns with people.

Since being on Maher, the book has been featured on the Colbert Report and CNN. On Thursday the authors filmed a segment with Glenn Beck, who said he was going to read the book to his children.

An illustration from the book "My Parents Open Carry"

The book tells the story of 13-year-old Brenna Strong and her parents Richard and Bea. The family goes on errands and is met with different reactions and questions about the pistols strapped to their waists. Most of the book is made up of the parents talking about issues related to open carry versus concealed pistols, the Second Amendment and proper gun care.

The books ends with Brenna getting and shooting her own pistol.

However the book has drawn criticism by some groups.

"My Parents Open Carry is a book written for a gun extremist niche market, attempting to normalize behavior that every other developed country--all of which have lower gun death rates than we do--finds abnormal and unsafe,” the organization Parents Against Gun Violence said in a statement. “While we strongly support providing children with information that will protect them from gun violence, this book crosses the line from information into the realm of indoctrination.”

The jokes have centered around the topic of the book and some of its illustrations.

"If mom and dad are both safe because they're packing, why are they using their daughter as a human shield?" Maher asked on the show.

What do the authors think of the comedy?

“I thought it was hilarious, it didn’t bother me at all,” said Nephew, who added the jokes show he didn’t read the book. “I thank him for the publicity.”

Fritz Klug is a news buzz reporter for MLive. Contact him at fklug@mlive.com or 269-370-0584. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.