OKLAHOMA CITY--Oklahoma and South Carolina, the only two states in the union to outlaw tattooing, both have bills before their legislatures that would lift the ban.
Scott Dees spent a mild Wednesday afternoon filling in the dragon mask tattoo on his boss's chest at Bennett's Tattooing and Body Piercing on Main Street in Sapulpa, Okla. The store sign advertises tattoos, mocking state law.
"It doesn't get more open than this," said owner David Bennett. "Tattooing is not something that's in the closet and going to go away."
Oklahoma Sen. Frank Shurden, D-Henryetta, has introduced a bill that would legalize tattoos and put them under state regulation.
In South Carolina, Sen. Bill Mescher, R-Pinopolis, has fought 10 years for legalization and had half a dozen bills defeated.
This time, the traditional opposition voted for the bill, and it cleared the South Carolina Senate in early January. The bill awaits debate in the House.
"There should be no opposition of any significance," Mescher said. "I have high hopes it's going to go through this time."
But Oklahoma might be different than South Carolina, opponents of legalizing tattooing said.
Rep. Bill Graves, R-Oklahoma City, fears legalization will make tattooing more tempting and accessible: "I think a lot of kids get tattoos and probably wish they hadn't later."
Both states outlawed the practice in the 1960s, when most states outlawed tattooing because of hepatitis outbreaks.
The last attempt to repeal Oklahoma's 1963 ban -- a misdemeanor "to tattoo or offer to tattoo any person" -- failed four years ago. The bill died when Rep. Fred Stanley, D-Madill, refused to hear it before his Public Health Committee.
Supporters of legalizing tattoos say making the practice illegal pushes tattooists underground and allows them to operate without strict health standards.
About a dozen people in Oklahoma City do underground tattoo work, and probably 75 or 80 more are just "scratchers," said Jeremy Bateman, who runs Tiggers Body Art, an Oklahoma City piercing shop.
"A scratcher is a guy that's got a homemade gun that doesn't know what he's doing," Bateman said. "You look at his work and say, 'I could have done a better job with a cheese grater and an ink pen.' "
