Piers Morgan row: petition calls for CNN anchorman to be deported

Not since revolutionary times has there been such a public groundswell of fury aimed at the British, or in this case one particular Briton. Thousands of American gun rights supporters are calling for the deportation of CNN anchorman Piers Morgan over his calls for new weapons restrictions following the Newtown school shootings.

The petition on the White House We the People website to "Deport British Citizen Piers Morgan for Attacking 2nd Amendment" had more than 32,000 supporting signatures by Monday morning, easily passing the 25,000 threshold needed to receive a White House response.

The petition was created on 21 December by "Kurt N" in Austin, Texas, and seems to be a response to Morgan's statements following the Sandy Hook school massacre. It reads:

British Citizen and CNN television host Piers Morgan is engaged in a hostile attack against the US 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.

On the day of the shootings Morgan interviewed several people who were both for and against increased gun control on his hour-long CNN show. Arguing with second amendment advocates, Morgan took an aggressive stance in support of gun control.

"The argument I keep hearing is 'well if everybody else was armed, it wouldn't happen,'" Morgan said on the show. "It's a load of total hogwash!"

The next day, the first petition in favour of Morgan's deportation appeared on the site: "Petition the Obama Administration To send Piers Morgan back to Great Britain," though it has received little more than 4,000 signatures.

Morgan called the petition ironic on Saturday and renewed his calls for stricter gun laws on Monday as the petition gained national attention.

Morgan has anchored CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight since January 2011. His Twitter profile includes a picture of him smiling with Barack and Michelle Obama in front of a Christmas tree and it is unlikely he will be forced out of the US, no matter how many thousands of people support it.

The White House has said it will respond to petitions on its We The People platform that pass a 25,000 signature threshold. A multitude of petitions go through the website daily and most fail to reach the requisite number. The platform first gained notoriety when a petition for the White House beer recipe passed the threshold and resulted in the release of the once-secret recipe.

A popular petition calling for the secession of Texas is still waiting for a response. Following the presidential election, more than 30 states created petitions to secede from the union – an almost impossible task. Texas quickly received more than 120,000 signatures supporting the move.