WWW arkcity.net

Photo by Donita Clausen click image to enlarge

Border tattoo shops confident

By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer

For years, local tattoo artists have cornered the Oklahoma market because tattoo shops are illegal there.

But that could change soon. Oklahoma is considering allowing tattoo licenses for the first time in state history.

"It will probably affect it at first," said Mike Shea, owner of Skinsations Tattoo & Body Piercing on South Summit Street.

Shea estimates 50 percent of his clients are from Oklahoma. They drive across the state line to get tattoos at his Ark City shop.

"A lot of people in Oklahoma may not make a drive to Kansas for awhile, but once they realize other shops don't do quality work, they'll be back, " he said.

The tattoo legalization bill was passed Monday by the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted 70-28 Monday to legalize and regulate tattooing, said Ray Carter, director of the House Media Division of the state house in Oklahoma City.

Senate Bill 806 would legalize tattooing in Oklahoma for the first time in state history. An amended version was approved by the House yesterday, and the Senate has indicated it would vote on it and send it to the governor, Carter said.

Skinsations has been in business for 13 years in Ark City, he said. The shop has a good reputation among customers and is well advertised.

Another local tattoo shop owner, George Stratton, who runs Cutting Edge Tattoo on West Madison Avenue, said 90 percent of his clients are from Oklahoma, but he's not too concerned about the new legislation.

"They got a lot to figure out," Stratton said.

He referred to how tattoo shops in Oklahoma would be regulated. In Kansas, shops are regulated through the state board of cosmetology, but Oklahoma is leaning toward regulation through the state health board, he said.

"The health board doesn't have anything to do with it," Stratton said. "That's OK for regulating food, but not blood-borne pathogens."

Shea said tattoo shops in Kansas are heavily regulated by the board of cosmetology. Kansas is one of the strictest states on tattoo shop regulations, he said.

Stratton, who has been in business for the past 10 years in Ark City, predicts that if the Oklahoma bill is signed into law, it won't result in serious competition to his operation.

"They are going to wind up regulating it through the health board and are going to charge tremendous fees," he said. "That's the same they do with body piercing shops. Body piercing is legal down there, but they are licensed every year for well over $1,000."

In Kansas, tattoo operators pay only $100 for a practitioner's license and a $100 annual renewal fee, Stratton said.

People who want tattoos are not likely to go to a new shop they don't know anything about and that is not regulated properly, he added.

"Are you going to a shop that's reputable, to a shop that's been around and regulated?" he said. "I ain't worried about it."

Above: Owner of Skinsations Tattoo & Body Piercing, Mike Shea, says he's not too worried about Oklahoma allowing tattoo shops.