Politics

White House Won't Deport Piers Morgan, Citing First Amendment vs. the Second

More than 100,000 people signed an official petition asking the Obama administration to consider deporting the CNN host after his focus on gun control after Newtown, and the White House had some bad news for those people on Wednesday afternoon.

By Alexander Abad-Santos
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More than 100,000 people signed an official White House petition asking President Obama and his administration to consider deporting Piers Morgan, who has drawn the ire of conservatives with his focus on American gun control after the Newtown shootings. And the White House had some bad news for those people on Wednesday afternoon: the Obama administration will officially not be sending the CNN host back to the UK.

The full, official response from the White House to one of the most popular of these increasingly shared We the People petitions — 25,000 signatures merit an answer, no matter how silly — is now online. It's called "When Discussing the Second Amendment, Keep the First in Mind Too," which, obviously, already has gun-rights advocates in a tizzy. In the response, press secretary Jay Carney asks petitioners not to "let arguments over the Constitution's Second Amendment violate the spirit of its First." Carney's message continues:

However, the Constitution not only guarantees an individual right to bear arms, but also enshrines the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press -- fundamental principles that are essential to our democracy. Americans may disagree on matters of public policy and express those disagreements vigorously, but no one should be punished by the government simply because he or she expressed a view on the Second Amendment -- or any other matter of public concern.

So there it is, First Amendment rights are protecting Morgan. And Morgan himself seems happy about it — or at the very least, happy to remind everyone:

And here are the first few responses to the White House response:

Alex Jones, the man who went off on Morgan more publicly than anyone over guns, has yet to respond.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.