Lawmaker’s Comment Assailed

A Wyoming lawmaker’s remarks about guns, drugs and blacks created an uproar in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday as critics decried her comments as offensive.

During debate on a bill that would block many lawsuits against gun dealers and gun manufacturers, Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) referred to an amendment that would have allowed lawsuits when guns were sold to drug users.

“Does that mean if you go into a black community you can’t sell any guns to any black person?” said Cubin, who has a pro-gun voting record.

She then started to say something about her blond and blue-eyed sons but was interrupted. Although she said she did not mean to offend anyone, she refused to retract her words, sending the House into a procedural argument about whether her words should be stricken. Republicans backing her prevailed.

Later, Cubin apologized, saying she had been trying to make the point that “stereotyping is always wrong.”

Several Democrats said they were astonished by her remarks. “She needs to apologize for words that are offensive to the whole African American race,” said Rep. Melvin L. Watt (D-N.C.).

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, recalled how President Bush and other influential Republicans tried to disassociate themselves from the racially offensive comments Republican Sen. Trent Lott made in December, utterances that cost Lott his position as Senate majority leader. Bush said those remarks were not reflective of the Republican Party’s conscience.

Cummings said Republicans should “synchronize their conduct with their conscience.”