Ink stains

Tattooing you

by Camille Dodero

Walk into the corner store within the next month and you just might hear, "I'll take a can of Coke, a pack of Camels, and, um, a red rose over my right nipple."

Really, it could happen. A decision Monday by a Massachusetts Superior Court judge found the state's ban on tattooing unconstitutional -- thereby making it legal to ink skin in the Bay State. The ruling came about after an ACLU-sponsored lawsuit filed by Stephan Lamphear, a New York tattooist who alleged that the Massachusetts tattoo ban was a violation of the Constitution -- specifically, its protection of freedom of expression. Judge Barbara Rouse agreed: "[T]he act of tattooing is inseparable from the display of the tattoo itself and is expression protected by the First Amendment," she wrote.

But -- here's where the quickie-mart ink-slinging comes in -- tattooing has been illegal in Massachusetts since 1962. Hence, there are no regulations in place to monitor tattooing. Which means that right now, anyone -- you, your little brother, the corner-store clerk who's only injected paint into an orange -- can tattoo in the Bay State.

"A convenience store with a spare room could put up a sign and start tattooing," admits State Representative David Tuttle (R-Barre), a long-time supporter of the art's legalization. "And since no licensing is required, anyone can open a shop under the present ruling."

But the potential for a free-for-all won't exist for long. Back in January of 1999, Tuttle proposed a bill to govern tattooing, one that's been languishing in the State House for over a year and a half and now sits idly before the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Tuttle is confident that the court order will be a sufficient kick in the pants to get the bill enacted. Besides, he says, most professional artists -- including plaintiff Stephan Lamphear -- want regulation.

"It's gotta be regulated," says Tex, a locally based artist who's been tattooing illegally in Massachusetts for over 20 years. "If you don't, you'll get kids with starter kits ordered from the backs of tattoo magazines trying to open shops. And that's scary."