Shops win lawsuit Courts: Tattoo law Judge calls provisions on bonds and location unconstitutional. Tattoo shops win lawsuit
By Randy Ellis
Published: May 2, 2007
Tattoo shop owners celebrated Tuesday after an Oklahoma County judge struck down portions of a state law and regulations that have made it difficult for them to obtain state licenses.
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Requirements that tattoo shops post $100,000 surety bonds and not open within 1,000 feet of a school, church or playground are irrational and unconstitutional, District Judge Dan Owens ruled Tuesday.
Owens issued a permanent injunction banning enforcement of the restrictions.
Attorney Blake Bostick, who defended the regulations, said no decision has been made on whether to appeal.
The judge's ruling was greeted with a brief, spontaneous celebration by tattoo shop owners and artists who filled the courtroom, but Owens quickly quieted the crowd with a stern warning.
"You better keep it calm,” the judge said. "This isn't a Celebration Station.”
Attorney Jaye Mendros, who represented tattoo shop owners in the lawsuit, hailed the ruling as a "huge victory for the tattoo industry.”
"It means we are finally getting to have legal tattoos in Oklahoma,” Mendros said. "It means we have finally ended the last back-handed way they used to prevent tattoo shops from opening.”
Mendros said there was never any rational basis for the restrictions, which she described as "nothing but harassment for the budding tattoo industry.”
Doug O'Feery, owner of Daddy Kong's Tattoo Supply and Body Piercing in Nicoma Park, said it feels as if a big burden has been lifted off his shoulders.
"I just felt like the regulations were just for fines and weren't for health reasons or anything like that,” said O'Feery, 46, of Luther.
In the short term, the ruling may lead to a proliferation of tattoo shops in the state, but that won't last long, O'Feery said.
He said people will quickly figure out which artists are good and which are bad, and economics will take care of the rest.
A closer look at the key issues
Judge Owens explained his ruling, saying he had studied the two restrictions carefully and could find no rational basis for them.
Issue No. 1: Location
Requiring tattoo shops to stay at least 1,000 feet from schools, churches and playgrounds doesn't make sense when bars only have to be 300 feet from such locations and strip clubs only have a 500-foot requirement.
"It seems to me both would be a more detrimental and dangerous problem to people at church, schools or playgrounds,” Owens said.
Owens said he also could find no rationale for a "grandfather” clause that allows tattoo shops to open inside body piercing businesses that are within the area off limits to new shops.
"I've thought about this in every way I can. It doesn't make sense to me,” he said.
Issue No. 2: Bond required
Likewise, the judge said he studied the $100,000 surety bond requirement and it appeared to him to be a "punitive bond” designed to limit people from going into the tattoo shop business.
Oklahoma has granted licenses to 39 tattoo shops since tattooing became legal last fall. The state also has 121 licensed tattoo artists, according to Health Department figures.
Industry officials contend there would be a lot more, if not for the limiting regulations overturned Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed in February by The Association of Body Art, a group of tattoo shop owners.
Contributing: Jay F. Marks, Staff Writer
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