NY Democrats Make War on Tattoos

Via Moe Lane via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit: Tattoo Artists In An Uproar Over "Unnecessary" Ink Law

NYC tattoo artists are up in arms (sorry) about a new law that will go into effect in December requiring New York tattoo artists to use single-use ink shots. A petition surfaced yesterday regarding the law, which Governor Cuomo believes is necessary to prevent "potentially serious and life threatening health risks." Tattoo artists, however, are firmly against the language being used in the bill regarding the ink requirements, which they believe are completely unnecessary.

We asked tattoo artist Brad Stevens at NY Adorned (one of the best) to explain his concerns, which he describes as "major."

Scratch a Democrat and find an autocrat.

Some tattooers spend their entire career seeking pigments and perfecting recipes for ink. The best inks that are used by the best artists have been time tested for quality and safety. There are many companies that make cheap tattoo supplies and prey on bad tattooers by selling them inferior products. These companies are run by businessmen looking for untapped markets, not knowledgeable tattooers lovingly crafting high quality products for better results.
What sounds fishy about this situation is that "ink shots" sounds like a brand name, or at least a product line of one specific brand. Since this issue surfaced tattooers have been speculating that the manufacturer of this product must have been the one pushing for reform. It's suspicious because I have been tattooing for almost a decade and I obsess over the products I use, and I have never heard of an ink shot.

It would be entirely consistent with democrats and their crony capitalist donor to create a mandate for their products.

Cheap, mass produced tattoo inks can contain plastics and many tend to fade or completely fall out of the skin eventually. To put it simply we would be tattooing with inferior products. It would make your tattoo worse. It's like if New York State told Gothamist that they have to build their website with Goecities.

Or Clinton.com's email provider.

If this goes through you can expect every reputable tattooer to either have a hidden stash of their preferred, time tested ink, or simply decide to take their business out of New York.

As you can see here, some people put a lot of time, money and thought into their tattoos (appropriately, since they are very difficult to remove cleanly), and you want the ink to look as good as possible as long as possible.

The petition can be found here, and is simply requesting the wording of the bill be changed to allow inks from larger bottles "to be poured into single use disposable receptacles, aka ink caps.

Seems like a reasonable request.

As noted by Moe Lane, the ostensible reason for this rule change was to address an outbreak of hepatitis C, which can be spread by contaminated needles. If, in fact, Hep C is being spread by commercial tattooing, licensing, and training of tattoo artists in how to prevent contamination should be advanced.

However, as we've seen before, tattooing is associated with other "risky behaviors", alcohol, drugs and sex. I doubt that direct transmission with reputable commercial tattoo artists is a significant risk factor.

Wombat-socho has "Rule 5 Sunday: Summertime Girls" ready at The Other McCain.