Local Tattoo Artist Fighting To Open Tattoo Shop In Temple

A local tattoo artist is challenging a Temple ordinance that bans tattoo shops in the city.

Christopher Simmons, a tattoo artist from Temple but works in Harker Heights, has started the Temple Texas Advocacy Group and hopes to collect enough signatures for his petition to force the city council to put it on their agenda to change the ordinance. To do that, he'll need one third of the voting population, roughly 10,000 signatures.

The city ordinance states:

ARTICLE VIII. TATTOO SHOPS
Sec. 16-108. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall be construed
as follows:
Tattooing or Tattoo means the practice of marking the skin with indelible patterns or pictures by making punctures and inserting pigments by someone other than a licensed physician.
Tattoo operator means any person, other than a licensed physician, who actually performs the work of tattooing, or who operates, conducts or manages a tattoo shop, whether actually performing the work of tattooing or not.
Tattoo shop means any room or space where tattooing is practiced or where the business of tattooing is conducted, or any part thereof.
Sec. 16-109. Tattooing Prohibited.
It shall be unlawful for any person within the city limits to operate a tattoo shop or
engage in the practice or business of tattooing as a tattoo operator.

"It prohibits someone from having that business or being a tattoo artist unless they are a physician," says Temple City Attorney Jonathan Graham told KXXV-TV.

Simmons says the ordinance is indirectly encouraging people to try home tattooing because equipment can easily be bought and allowing licensed tattoo shops in the Temple would be better for everyone.

"Professional tattoo studios only benefit the public health because they're done in the correct manner." Simmons told KXXV-TV.