LOS ANGELES - More than 48,000 people have signed a petition that they posted on the White House website demanding that British CNN talk show host Piers Morgan be deported over comments he made on air about gun control.
Morgan last week lambasted pro-gun guests on his show, after the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where a gunman shot dead 26 people, including 20 children.
"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," the petition said.
The petition, started on Dec. 21 by a man identified as Kurt N. from Austin, Texas, accuses Morgan of subverting the second amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms.
US citizens can file a petition on the White House website, whitehouse.gov, if they collect at least 25,000 signatures within 30 days. The White House is then obliged to issue a response.
Five days after the Connecticut massacre, Morgan called a guest, Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners for America, an "idiot," "dangerous" and an "unbelievably stupid man."
Christa Robinson, a CNN spokeswoman, said the network had no immediate comment on the petition.