Shock Over Pro-Gun Picture Book For CHILDREN

Shock Over Pro-Gun Picture Book For CHILDREN
|
Open Image Modal
My Open Carry

An illustrated children's book showing kids having fun with their gun-toting parents has been met with outrage.

The book, called 'My Parents Open Carry', features sketches of an apparently ordinary American family running errands and having a good time together.

But it has a chilling message: the teenage girl's parents in the book carry guns around in public as if it's the most normal thing in the world.

Authors Brian Jeffs and Nathan Nephew have published the illustrated story about 13-year-old Brenna Strong and her firearms-carrying parents Richard and Bea.

The book's cover shows the blue-eyed family with guns clipped to their belts, and is aimed at all those parents who 'carry a gun and sometimes struggle with how to best explain the reasons' to their children.

'Open carry' is an American short term for 'openly carrying a firearm in public', as opposed to concealing a weapon.

The book tells the tale of the Strong family as they spend a typical Saturday shopping and having fun together.

But according to the Guardian its aim is to drive home the message that the Strongs are 'standing up for their 2nd Amendment rights by open carrying and bringing gun ownership out of the closet'.

The authors of this book are founder members of the non-profit organisation, Michigan Open Carry, Inc, whose primary aim is: "To educate and desensitise the public and members of the law enforcement community about the legality of the open carry of a handgun in public."

Mr Nephew told Armed American Radio, the official radio programme of The United States Concealed Carry Association, that 'most kids aren't scared of a gun ... that's another good point this book tries to make'.

And – incredibly – it has received positive reviews, albeit on the authors' website.

Alan Korwin of gunlaws.com is quoted saying 'boy does this fill a vacuum', while James Towle, host of the American Trigger Sports Network calls it 'outstanding' and 'long overdue'.

And John Roshek, founder of the Citizens League for Self-Defence adds: "Loved it, I ordered a copy for our school's library".

Story continues after video.

However, the book was less enthusiastically received elsewhere.

TBogg at Raw Story described it as portraying a 'day in the life of 'typical' gun nut family', and 'a primer for the children of gun nuts who'll be lucky to see their 10th birthday'.

It added: "As a prologue to the kids ... I'd like point out that – no matter what mommy and daddy say – over 10,000 kids are shot each year in the United States and having a gun in the home makes you less, not more safe."

Meanwhile, children's book publisher Elizabeth Laws took to Twitter to say that it was the first time in 25 years that 'a children's book leaves me speechless'.

She added: "Would love to deconstruct everything wrong with this. #1, Open Carry isn't a verb. "Bad enough that her parents pack heat, but who made a teen wear a granny blouse? Or tease her hair? #badparenting."