Three Cheers for Piers!!!!!!

[jimmy the one]

daily beast: Should Piers Morgan Be Deported ~Dec 25 2012: the petition to deport Piers Morgan, now at over 80,000 signatures. I expect that this may be the beginning of the end of these White House petitions, or at least, the [white house] pledge to respond to any that get over 25,000 signatures. They're far to vulnerable to just this form of idiocy, and the success and fame of this petition is only going to encourage more of it.

usnews: (more depth): Protect the 2nd Amendment, screw the First! Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for British CNN host Piers Morgan to be deported from [USA] over his gun control views.
... Morgan has taken an aggressive stand for tighter US gun laws in the wake of the Conn. school shooting. Last week, he called a gun advocate appearing on his Piers Morgan Tonight show an "unbelievably stupid man." And that is Mr. Morgan's opinion, which he is entitled to, whether you like his accent or not. Entitled to, you ask? Is he a citizen of this country?! Noncitizens and permanent residents are also protected under the First Amendment--that is unless, like those of us who are citizens, we're yelling fire in a crowded theatre.
.. a user in Texas accusing Morgan of engaging in a [color=#FF0000]"hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution[/color]" 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.
.. Unfortunately for Tex and those who signed this petition .. Noncitizens, and especially permanent residents, have statutory rights to remain in the country unless they've done (or there's sufficient reason to think they've done) certain bad things ... Even if the Executive Branch decides to deport someone, it has to have statutorily authorized grounds, and it has to provide hearings at which an immigration judge decides whether the conditions for deportation are met.
The govt may not criminally punish noncitizens—or presumably impose civil liability on them—based on speech that would be protected if said by a citizen.
.. And how has Piers Morgan responded? Actually, he seemed unfazed, perhaps even amused by all of this. On Twitter he urged his followers to sign the petition [color=#0000FF][?????!!!???][/color], and in response to one article about the petition he 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?"
[link:http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/leslie-marshall/2012/12/26/piers-morgan-deportation-petition-ignores-the-constitution|

THREE CHEERS FOR PIERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We need more commentators like piers morgan, let's import them instead.

[LiberalFighter]

1. The signers of that petition should be deported.

[truebrit71]

2. Piers Morgan is a scumbag journalist one notch above the rodents that infest murdoch's empire...

...one very small notch...

[Thinkingabout]

4. He still ranks much above Wayne LaPierre or Pratt.

[Enrique]

5. lol

so only two cheers from you then?

i had heard that his work in the UK was a bit dodgy if that's the right word.

[atreides1]

6. That may be true

But he still has protection under the 1st Amendment, and has not broken any US law that would be cause for him to be deported.

[CBHagman]

18. Plus I have a modest proposal.

Send Rush Limbaugh to the U.K. and see how long he stays out of jail, given the libel laws.

(Just joking. The Brits suffered enough in WWII and don't deserve Limbaugh.)

[hopemountain]

15. i totally agree, truebrit71

where were all these gun toters when piers was disrespectful of and verbally assaulting the president of this country? can't stand piers morgan. ugh.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Well said. Some of us will never forget the ooze from which that creature emerged.

nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

22. the former News of the world!

[Thinkingabout]

3. Since the signers are upset about Constitutional rights denied then they have set up their deportion

Piers exercised his Constitution right of freedom of speech but did not deny anyone the right to bear arms. Now this petition is proof those signing should not have guns because if inability to read and understand which would mean they are incapable of safely operating a weapon. Piers was right, stupid people with weapons.

[janlyn]

7. absolute rights!!

While I agree that Mr. Morgan has the right to his own opinion,I would like to point out that the only thing that the gun ban has done for our country,is to lessen the number of GUN related homicides.
It has NOT as Mr. Morgan would have you believe,made our country any safer. In fact Great Britain has one of the highest violent crime's record in europe.

If you had asked my Nana if she felt better being robbed twice in her own home with weapons other than guns I imagine that beyond the word BLOODY everything else would need to be censored.

On the other hand the right's insistence that if you outlawed guns only criminals would have guns,doesn't hold water either.
You don't find criminals in GB using guns. Cricket bats,cudgels and knives, YES...guns? NO

And while I don't know the correct solution,it seems to me that extremism in any form is NEVER a good idea!!

[jimmy the one]

11. british notifiable offences

janlyn: .. Great Britain has one of the highest violent crime's record in europe.

.. a couple points; 1, around year 2000, UK altered their crime reporting methods, which inflated actual reported crime. IE instead of the old way where if 3 people were robbed it would count as simply one robbery, it became 3 robberies under the new crime reporting method. You obviously see how this would inflate reported violent crime (it did ~15% iirc).
2, they have two crime reporting methods (same as the USA) - the first is 'notifiable offences from home office' (reported crime) as well as the BCS british crime survey which includes unreported crime. The BCS showed a decrease in crime rates where notifiable offenses showed increase over past several years.
{similarly America has FBI uniform crime reports UCR of reported crime, & also NCVS is national crime victimization survey which includes american unreported crime}.
3, florida alone has as much guncrime as the UK (england, wales, scotland), about 24,000 per year, while UK has 2 & a half times more people. Further, UK guncrime is half comprised of crimes done with airguns & bb guns, hardly that dangerous as americas deadly toys. English do get rowdy but their injuries are not as severe, as per number 4:
4, british yearly costs for gunshot injuries are a fraction of americas, about a couple percent I recollect. IIRC the ratio was 70 to 2, perhaps billions, 70 billion to 2 billion etc, which says a lot, or maybe millions, dunno for sure.

On the other hand the right's insistence that if you outlawed guns only criminals would have guns,doesn't hold water either.

Concur, nor does wayne la-conman's idiocy that the 'only' thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Sometimes the gunner bad guy changes his mind in the middle of the crime, sometimes he gets punched & has an unloaded gun to begin with & runs off, sometimes he gets spooked during his offense maybe a siren in the distance or a barking dog, sometimes he shoots himself, sometimes others see him & yell & he runs off.
In a robbery you generally have two choices, compliance or resistance; when you resist with a gun you have a small chance of non fatal injury (~10%??), while when you comply you have a slightly greater chance of non fatal injury, but injuries tend to be far less severe than injuries incurred if you resist with a gun.

You don't find criminals in GB using guns.Cricket bats,cudgels and knives,YES..guns? NO

spot on

[janlyn]

14. thanks

for the info on the crime reporting methods.

[flamingdem]

8. I appreciate that he did this

If other Europeans had his mike they'd say the same, this country is insane about guns.

[spin]

9. Piers has the right to his opinion in our nation just as I have the right to consider him as ...

as a bombastic Brit who is attempting to lecture the children of the mother country on how we should run our nation.

But I have no problem with being lectured by a person from a nation that we bailed out twice in two World Wars. Our nation is far from perfect and respectful advice should be carefully considered.

I have recently watched several programs on the issue of gun control on the Piers Morgan show. I was interested in the views of all the guests. Unfortunately Piers would ask the supporters of gun rights a question and when they attempted to answer would launch into a long angry diatribe and not allow his guest the opportunity to answer. He actually reminded me of Bill O'Reilly who often uses the same tactics. Perhaps CNN hopes to increase their ratings by emulating Fox News.

[MindandSoul]

10. I'm glad someone speaks up against the American gun culture. If it has to be a non-Citizen, it may

Be a sad testimony of how addicted to guns our society is, but let it be.

Good for Piers!

[Bluenorthwest]

17. Many others speak up against gun culture, including Michael Moore who has made major films

and taken much right wing heat for years about it. To act as if Morgan, who is slime, is the only person to speak out against gun culture is just delusional.
Morgan was a twit without ethics long before he came to the US.

[whistler162]

12. Deport him.....

only to piss off Top Gears Jeremy Clarkson.

[progressoid]

19. He's not the only one that would be pissed off...

[Lionessa]

13. Generally Piers is a plague on our societies needs. Even our worst enemies

will agree with us on one or two points, just as our friends will disagree with us on one or points. This is no reason to cheer Piers, he's a right wing nut for the most part. One agreeable opinion does not a friend make.

[flying-skeleton]

20. my before/ after view of Piers ....

Funny thing - I never liked Posts before these silly petitions. Now .... he's OK with some street cred, thanks to Republican bozos.

[davidpdx]

21. I'm not a big fan of Piers Morgan, but I did like how he went after the gun lobby

I happened to see the clip online. I still try to avoid watching his show.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

23. Most British people think that Americans are 'gun-crazy'

watching Westerns doesn't help

[jimmy the one]

24. I may deport myself says PIERS MORGAN

Deport me? If America won't change its crazy gun laws... I may deport myself says PIERS MORGAN

In conclusion, I can spare those Americans who want me deported a lot of effort by saying this: If you don’t change your gun laws to at least try to stop this relentless tidal wave of murderous carnage, then you don’t have to worry about deporting me.
Although I love the country as a second home and one that has treated me incredibly well, I would, as a concerned parent first – and latterly, of a one-year-old daughter who may attend an American elementary school like Sandy Hook in three years’ time – seriously consider deporting myself.[link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254758/Piers-Morgan-Deport-If-America-wont-change-crazy-gun-laws-I-deport-myself.html#|

not that I want you to self deport, but, Cheers again, Piers.
_____________________________________________________

observe how the nra talks out of both sides of it's mouth:
Across the country, states are increasingly allowing people like Mr. French, who lost their firearm rights because of mental illness, to petition to have them restored.
.. A handful of states have had such restoration laws on their books for some time, but with little notice, more than 20 states have passed similar measures since 2008. This surge can be traced to a law passed by Congress after the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech that was actually meant to make it harder for people with mental illness to get guns.
.. As a condition of its support for the measure, the National Rifle Association extracted a concession: the inclusion of a mechanism for restoring firearms rights to those who lost them for mental health reasons.
.. an examination of restoration procedures across the country, along with dozens of cases, shows that the process for making that determination is governed in many places by vague standards and few specific requirements.
[link:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/us/03guns.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|