YUMA, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) – A young girl is sparking debate online after she got a permanent tattoo at age 9.
According to the tattoo artist, the girl got an American flag tattoo on her arm at Black Onyx Empire Tattoo in Yuma, Arizona when she was 9, and she recently came in for a touch up at age 10.
She was accompanied by her parents.
An Instagram video posted by the tattoo artist on Thursday shows the girl getting tattooed at the shop.
The artist explained that the girl originally wanted a tattoo of Donald Trump on her neck, but that he “convinced her to do a more patriotic tattoo.”
He also said he told the child that if she still wanted the Trump tattoo a year later that she should get it, but that she should take time to think about it.
A year later, now 10 years old, the girl came back for a touch-up of the American flag tattoo.
The artist said she also changed her mind about wanting the Trump portrait.
The video sparked a debate online from people criticizing the tattoo shop.
According to Arizona law, it’s legal to tattoo a child with a parent’s permission.
Ben Shaw with the Alliance of Professional Tattooists said Arizona is one of the least regulated states for tattoo artists, where no license is required to practice.
“It is one of the most frustrating things about our career field and in Arizona where it has no regulations,” he said.
He said just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical.
“It can give us professionals a bad reputation. If you see a 10-year-old child with a professional tattoo and they say they got it at a tattoo shop, that degrades us as a whole,” Shaw said.
Shaw said in cases where it’s legal to tattoo a child in the presence of a parent, it’s really up to the individual tattoo artist to make the call.
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