MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - Kids under the age of eighteen would have the written consent of the parent of the legal guardian to get a tattoo, body piercing, or a branding under a proposal from Sen. John Russell, R-Lebanon.
"I'm for it," said Dave Bullock, a tattoo artist from Alternative Art in Columbia. "First of all because the body of a teenager can change a lot, and also because if you are under 18, you still depend on your legal guardians."
But Russell said that in most every small town tattoo parlors are giving kids special deals of some kind, as not very expensive tattoos.
"It's a way to force them to deal with the parents if they do tattoos to the kids," Russell said.
The measure also would forbid tattooing or body piercing of a person under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Russell said that he added that restriction because he had heard that some tattoo businesses approach people by serving them alcohol. "It may be not common real practice, but it's common enough to be a problem," Russell said.
"That's ridiculous," Bullock said. "We don't need people to get drunk to get tattoos, we have people coming in all the time."
Bullock also said that he would never suggest any alcohol before the tattoo because alcohol consumption causes heavier bleeding which, in turn, makes it more difficult for the tattoo artist to see the design.
Russell's bill would make violation a misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $500.
While some cities have ordinances regulating tattooing, Russell said a state law is necessary because in some areas tattoo parlors have outside city borders to evade municipal regulation.
St. Louis, Springfield, Joplin and Waynesville have ordinances regulating tattooing. Also, Columbia recently passed an ordinance to impose regulations beginning the first of April.
Like Russell's bill, Columbia's ordinance requires parental approval for tattooing a minor and prohibits tattooing a person under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The city Health Department will have to do periodic inspections of tattoo parlors
"We want to make sure that tattoo establishments are clean," said Gerald Worly, the Chief Bureau of the Environmental Health Section of the Health Department in Columbia. "That the operators are educated and that the process of tattooing is safe."
There is no federal law regulating tattooing. State regulation varies from state to state. Some states - such as Oklahoma, Massachusetts and Vermont -- completely prohibit commercial tattooing.
Tim Kern, a tattoo and body piercing artist at Dream Catcher in Columbia, said the drive to outlaw tattooing arose during the 1950s and the 1960s because of the risk of catching diseases like hepatitis B. But now, Kern said, it's unlikely that you can get a disease with a tattoo, because "the cleaning standards are much better now."
"We sterilized all the needles before the tattoo," Meulenkamp said. "And we throw away anything that can't be sterilized."
Bullock said that when you go to the Apprentice, you work for a master tattoo artist and you learn the techniques of the job, that include the cleaning rules.
Regarding to body piercing, most of tattoo establishments treat in a similar way that to the tattooing, but is not regulated yet.
"That's one of the things I think that is should be regulated," Kern said.