In my numerous blog posts on the issue of tattoo regulation, I’ve always been very much in favour of getting artists licensed and on the books. Well, today I came across an article from the Dayton Daily News about the amount of unlicensed tattooists that are being reported to authorities.
‘Public health districts in Montgomery, Greene, Clark and Warren counties reported a total of 32 public nuisance complaints against unlicensed tattoo artists since 2007, compared to 13 complaints on licensed operators.’
It’s great to hear that the scratchers are being outted and dealt with by the authorities, but it’s kind of crummy to see that so many still exist and that even licensed tattooists are having complaints levied against them. Which kind of begs the question: is regulation doing everything it can or is it simply impossible to weed out all the illegal/basement dwelling scratchers just with regulation alone?
It probably is naive of me to believe that regulation can put an end to scratchers, but it’s still nice to see that things in Ohio are kind of on the ball. By that I mean that at least they are getting these public nuisance complaints and the more the public is aware of the illegalities and the dangers of unlicensed scratchers, the better things are for everyone. So, I guess from this point of view, while regulation might not be the final nail in the coffin for scratchers, it does help to educate the public on what is and isn’t acceptable. And the more that the public are aware of these sorts of things, the better.