The Daily Oklahoman
Letter to the Editor
May 2, 2005
The Journal Record

Dear Editor,
Recent articles in newspapers across Oklahoma have been written in favor of lifting the ban on tattooing; even the Oklahoma State Health Department is in favor. We are the last state to allow people to get safe, legal tattoos. Moral and health reasons are cited by opponents of the measure, which was stalled in committee and left to die by legislators.

Those in favor of legalizing tattooing use the wrong justification for their desire to see it legal. They have allowed their opposition to frame the rules of the debate. They are trying to prove that "public health" is at stake, and that we would be safer if tattooing were legalized and done out in the open.

It would be safer if it weren't being done underground. But, this all goes deeper than public health, tax revenue, or even fairness.

This is an issue of one group using the power of government to enforce their preferences on others. Even more important than that, it is about self-ownership. Who owns my body, who decides what I do with it?

The state Legislature wants to tell you what you can take for pain or a cold, who you can marry, and who you vote for on Election Day. They apparently want to tell you how to express yourself artistically as well.

- Jimmy Cook, vice-chairman, Oklahoma Libertarian Party, Claremore

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