Petition to deport Piers Morgan gains traction

It's a dispute involving some of our most familiar rights: The right to free speech, to bear arms, and to petition the government. This week, a group of American gun owners is taking on an imported TV personality and petitioning the White House to preserve some of these rights. 

Since the mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, British-born cable news host Piers Morgan has lashed out at U.S. gun laws and pro-gun advocates. Those advocates have hit back by launching a petition, on the White House website "We the People," calling for Piers Morgan to be deported.

CBS News' Jeff Glor noted Thursday that more than 80,000 people had signed the petition, which accuses Morgan of engaging in a "hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution" by targeting their right to bear arms.

The Obama administration rolled out "We the People" in 2011, allowing anyone to directly petition the government. Petitions that garner 25,000 signatures in 30 days are promised a response from the White House. When President Obama introduced the platform, he said it would provide a forum for the "matters you care about the most." However, since the site launched requests have run the gamut from serious, to not-so-serious, to entirely absurd.

A petition that asks the federal government to "secure resources and funding" to build a Death Star by 2016 has garnered 32,000 signatures, enough to guarantee a response from the administration.

Glor also reported that multiple petitions request for states to secede from the U.S., and that a petition for Texas to withdrawal has more than 122,000 signatures.

While the movement to kick Piers Morgan out of the country may have support, the cable host is laughing it off. Morgan recently tweeted: "Merry Christmas! Even to those who want me deported."