Why Do People Want Piers Morgan Deported?

Washington, DC (WIBX) - A petition on the White House website is getting thousands of signatures calling for the deportation of CNN talk show host Piers Morgan.

Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, hosts Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN.  It was during a recent broadcast of the show that he called Larry Pratt, the head of Gun Owners of America,  a "stupid man" who does not "...give a d--- about the murder rate in America."

Thousands of angry calls and letters followed.  The petition on the White House website  reads as follows: "British Citizen and CNN television host Piers Morgan is engaged in a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment. We demand that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights and for exploiting his position as a national network television host to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens."

Petitions garnering more than twenty-five thousand signatures in thirty days get a response from the White House.  As of this writing the petition has almost seventy thousand in the five days since it was posted on December 21, 2012.

Piers Morgan took to Twitter and tweeted: "I don't care about a petition to deport me.  I do care about poor NY firefighters murdered/injured with an assault weapon..."  Later he added, "If I do get deported from America for wanting fewer gun murders, are there any other countries that will have me?"

Others point to the fact that those asserting that Morgan's comments were disrespectful of the Second Amendment may perhaps be forgetting about the First Amendment, which protects his right to free speech.

Either way, the controversy is buoying ratings for the talk show host.

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