The petition calling for CNN host Piers Morgan to be deported back to Britain because of his anti-gun views has cracked the 70,000 mark in signatures. And today comes the inevitable counter-petition on the White House's We the People site: It calls for Morgan to stay in the US because "nobody in the UK wants him," reports Radar Online. It had just 500 or so signatures as of this afternoon.
The Week, meanwhile, rounds up opinions on the whole affair, with some commentators noting that it's hypocritical to punish Morgan for "attacking the Second Amendment" by stripping him of free-speech protections under the First. Even as a British national, he's entitled to them, an immigration attorney tells ABC. Read the full roundup here, including one writer's take that Morgan has helped conservatives by allowing them to "portray gun control as the issues of choice of foreign liberals." As for Morgan himself, his Twitter feed suggests he doesn't mind the controversy a bit. (More Piers Morgan stories.)