Reason number four million three hundred thousand and six as to why tattoo equipment sales should be regulated to professional artists only!
Yes. I know that tattoo equipment makers have to make a living, too. I know that scratchers will always find a way to make prison tattoo equipment and do the job anyway. I know that people who want to get a tattoo will find a way to do it. But, damn it; I see no reason to make it easy for them. All it results in is the dragging down of our beloved art, and bullshit like this latest piece of garbage giving the sacred art of tattooing yet another black eye.
According to CBS News, 30 year-old Eugene Eaton was recently arrested for allegedly tattooing minors in exchange stolen property such as laptops and video games, according to Sacramento police. Some of these children were as young as eleven years old. In one case it is rumored that the child’s mother gave permission for the tattoo and that she spoke to Eaton on the phone to give him the correct spelling of a name. A 13-year-old was also been arrested. Police say the teen has tattoos on both arms and his chest.
Sacramento Police Captain Daniel Hahn say this modern day Fagin told them he didn’t know the children were so young, despite the fact that the 13-year-old had his birth date tattooed on his arm. Yeah, right. “Please, Sir. May I have some more?” If bullshit were dollars this reject of humanity wouldn’t need to fence stolen property.
Eaton’s family paints a different picture. Eaton’s brother says only one boy gave his brother a laptop in exchange for a tattoo. He says they didn’t know the laptop was stolen. He also says the boy’s mother gave Eaton permission for the tattoo. Even with the last obvious lie fresh in my mind I still have to say, “So the fuck what?! It is still illegal to tattoo minors, Jerk wad.”
My point? If tattoo equipment were not so easily available to the general public, perhaps incidents like this would not have occurred in the first place. Scratchers think that professional artists want the supply part of the industry regulated just to keep them out. Well, yes, but that is not the only reason. Suppliers who make their product available to anyone with a few extra bucks in their pocket are partially responsible for shit like this, and a hundred other tattoo horror stories that crop up from time to time.
It’s not just about making a buck anymore, Gang. It’s about a way of life and maintaining a level of respect that has taken us hundreds of years to reach. Either we as a community get the message across to suppliers, or we will continue to see such outrages. Believe me, enough incidents like this one and we’ll be back to the good old days of the Lysol and water bucket rinse, don’t change the needle, next customer. (Yes, that last remark was sarcasm.)
Tattooing is now a regulated, professional industry in most of the world. I think it’s about time tattoo equipment suppliers were as well.
Image ©CBS News. All Rights reserved.
Tags: California, Dislike, Eugene Eaton, Health Risks, illegal tattooing, News, Sacramento, Scratchers, Scratchers, Stories, Tattoos
August 31st, 2009 at 3:32 am
the world is a big place
What I find funny about the ‘professional’ term.
Is that what I see as one the best tattoo traditions. I.e. Japanese Tattoo
Has been illegal for years.
It’s got nothing to do with regulations.
It’s up to the individual to be conscious. How can we say a 13 years should not get a tattoo anyway?
Come on let’s be real! Some people go through more shit at 11 years old than some adults. If you have been through really rough time. What is a tattoo compared to the f**** pain you have to go through everyday!
August 31st, 2009 at 7:46 am
True, Japanese tattooing has been illegal for years. However, tattooing in Japan needs little to no regulating. As with all they do, the people of Japan take great pride in the honor of their work and their tattoo artists have been strictly regulated by the artists
themselves for millennia. The same can not be said for the U.S., and other western countries.
As you said, “The world is a big place.”
Scratchers here have passed on some very serious, and life threatening diseases to unsuspecting customers, and a thirteen year old here in the western world tends to be very irresponsible in their life decisions. I’m quite certain that a case of Hepatitis C, or AIDS, would be quite more pain than they would be willing to deal with at such a young age. Neither do I believe that they would think an early death, or living with an incurable disease is worth a tattoo.
Here the art of Tattooing is regulated to professionals, and it only makes sense that the instruments of tattooing should be regulated here as well.
Love your site, by the way. Very cool!
August 31st, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Nice post making a good point. I live in New Mexico and they just started regulating the parlors here in the past year or so. When I first moved here I was shocked at the unprofessional parlors I ran across. And it was common to here of 15 yr olds getting tattooed, etc.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
i personally believe it is on the individual artist to take responsibility for their own work…yes there have been cases of hep and aids passed because of irresponsible jack holes but they dont exactly have the market cornered on disease…hospitals have been responsible for more reported cases of the spread of disease through mistakes and irresponsibility than was reported to be caused by “bad” tattoo artists over the last few years…by allowing more people to buy supplies they are giving “scratchers” an opportunity to use more sterilized equiptment and creating a more competetive market…its on the self centered egotrip of a tattoo artist that cant handle competition…ive met some artists who should have never been put to work by their mentors…
December 30th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
The problem is not legitimate tattoo suppliers. Subjecting them to regulations will only hurt the industry, not further it. The problem comes from eBay and Chinese manufacturers that will sell to anyone. The problem is that some legitimate tattoo artists will purchase from these sources. Oh hey, a $20 machine or a $50 power supply. They need to stop. Let the scratchers buy from them. The problem will take care of itself.
March 29th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
As a westerner living in a developing country, I have a very different viewpoint on ‘professionals’ and ’scratchers’. Here in Indonesia we have next to no regulations for tattoo parlors (that are enforced anyway), though professional tattooist groups are trying to get the government Health departments to approve and health accreditation course and certificate that any tatooist can apply for. As a small tattoo supply supplier, we sell to ‘professionals’ and ’scratchers’ who in many cases are amazingly talented poorer artists with no cash flow. Bear in mind, the tattoo industry here was illegal until 1998, before this the practice was a criminal offence so many ‘professionals’ now, were ’scratchers’ then due the underground nature of the industry and not being able to get supplies. Now, the reason we sell to artists who don’t have a lot of money or don’t have a professional studio, (and I emphasize this economic point) is to stop the use of non reputable inks and equipment that is used over and over again. To ensure our products are affordable, we have to get supplies from China or make them ourselves. It’s not feasible to get them from USA, Europe. Having said that, we have made a stand about getiting inks from China as we don’t know what is in them. Instead we buy inks from Australia and the USA direct from reputable companies and we sell them at very low margins, and payments can be made with no interest credit. On our facebook site, we make available information about regulations and good pratices from other countries (translated into Indonesian). This is to help distribute information from English sites that are not available to non-English speakers here. The tattoo industry of cultural communities has long been respected, but the up and coming artists here also have a lot to contribute. We do not discriminate ‘professionals’ from ’scratchers’ because all can make a contribution to the tattoo community. We believe in creating a community that is better educated not in labellilng or creating an exclusive club.
August 29th, 2011 at 10:22 am
Haa! “Professionals”, “Scratchers”???! Are tattoo artists defined by they’re label or by their artwork? I’m just wondering after reading this attemppt to publicly humiliate and expose Eugene, whom is one of my long time friends by the way, and other artists who havent crossed that threshold from working independantly to inside shops and tattoo parlors!!! I guess I could be labeled as well but I’ve covered and fixed more tattoos that have came from so- called “PROFESSIONALS” in shops (and you would be amazed at the crap some artists get away with), than I have fixed that were mistakes made from “scratchers”! I say that to say this.. It really doesn’t matter where you get a tattoo as long as the person applying the tattoo uses sterile equipment and knows what he or she is doing.