LONDON (AP) — Tens of thousands
of people have signed a petition calling for British CNN host Piers Morgan to be
deported from the U.S. over his gun control views.
Morgan has taken an aggressive stand for
tighter U.S. gun laws in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting. Last
week, he called a gun advocate appearing on his "Piers Morgan Tonight" show an
"unbelievably stupid man."
Now, gun rights activists are fighting back. A
petition created Dec. 21 on the White House e-petition website by a user in
Texas accuses Morgan of engaging in a "hostile attack against the U.S.
Constitution" by targeting the Second Amendment. It demands he be deported
immediately for "exploiting his position as a national network television host
to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens."
The petition has already hit the 25,000
signature threshold to get a White House response. By Monday, it had 31,813
signatures.
Morgan seemed unfazed — and even amused —
by the movement.
In a series of Twitter messages, he
alternately urged his followers to sign the petition and in response to one
article about the petition said "bring it on" as he appeared to track the
petition's progress.
"If I do get deported from America for
wanting fewer gun murders, are there any other countries that will have me?" he
wrote.
As a human being, even as an American human being, if I see incident after incident of violence escalating into the taking of a life, even those young lives that really haven't been used all that much yet and are therefore of lesser value (yes, that was sarcasm), and I say nothing, does it make me a better American? What if I hold views that aren't so popular? Is it ok to tell people that I believe them to be very wrong?
As a gay man, I've felt the many slings and arrows of the political right - and they are the political right because they believe everyone else is wrong - hammering away at my civil rights and the civil rights of those I care for. In complete ignorance of their history, these who declare that the rights of all persons only apply to all persons who agree with their viewpoint, fail to see that allowing unfairness in one man's life jeopardizes all men's rights. I guess they slept through the 60's. Or, maybe they miss the 50's McCarthy fun. And yet, in their ignorance and hysterical ramblings, still they have the right to speak - I just wish they would listen.
Yet now, having spoken so repeatedly to make me nauseous, I'm to hear that they believe the right to disagree only applies to them. These goons want to toss out a man for simply believing different - and having a platform to air his difference.
So much for that whole "Freedom of Speech" thing.
