COMPANY

First Amendment Tattoo Company was established in August of 2005 to fill a void for safe quality tattoos in a State where tattooing was illegal. We opened our doors on September 15th 2005 at 3080 N. Portland Ave. One month later we were raided by the police like a crack house. They came in with an undercover officer with a wireless microphone rigged in his clothing.

Once he got a price on a tattoo the rest of the team swooped in and locked the shop down. They took our artists to jail for the night, and we opened back up the next day.

Due to a plethora of artists being available we opened up a second shop in October of 2005 at 7918 N MacArthur Ave. We then opened up a third shop in November of 2005 in Bricktown. We then got raided again at all 3 shops and they took the guys to jail again. We opened back up the next day. About this time there was a lot of talk about tattooing at the Health Department and the Capital.

So we proceeded to talk with the Legislators and the Health Department so that we could help make an impact on trying to get tattooing legalized. FATCO by no means was the only tattoo shop involved in this battle.

Tattooing had been going on in Tulsa for 5 + years before anyone opened a shop in Oklahoma City. Actually my visits to Tulsa to see shops like Bennett’s Tattooing, Eye Witness Tattoo, and Hell Billy in Muskogee led us to finally open up our shops. Tulsa had already had legalized tattooing in Tulsa county due to a court case that was thrown out, on the fact that the Oklahoma law was out dated. The law stated that a tattoo was a permanent mark, and we now have laser tattoo removal so the law was thrown out in court. Without all of the guys in Tulsa doing what they did tattooing would never have been legalized in Oklahoma.

Once the issue was taken to the capital that is when the real pressure was able to be put on the Legislators. We among others were on the news, radio, and in print ads as much as possible. We did over 50 interviews alone. Count the other people from other shops that had popped up in the city, and there was a real big buzz about this with everyone in the city. In February of 2006 we opened up our final shop at 1516 nw 23rd St. For people that do not know the Capital is on 23rd St, and is about 4 miles from our shop. So with this there was finally a shop right down the street from the capital that the legislators could not ignore. There were other shops on 23rd at this time, but one was doing tattoos secretly in the back and the other did not open until the law passed months later.

About this time was when we were in contact with the Miami Ink Casting Crew. Which unfortunately conflicted with us throwing the first tattoo convention in OKC in August of 2006. That was a rough week, but a fun week. By then the law had passed and we were already for the rules to be implemented. However they had put in a 1000' rule and a Surety Bond for every shop. This meant that your shop could not be within 1000' of a school, church, or playground, and also every shop had to obtain a surety bond for $100,000. Well in OKC churches rule, If not churches then the schools and playgrounds have you. So there was a little known loop hole to get your shops grand fathered in on the distance rule. You had to get licensed as a piercing shop first. So our 23rd st shop got grand fathered in, and our Bricktown shop got grand fathered in. The shitty thing at this point was that we had actually closed down our first shop and completely moved it and rebuilt it because it was about 200' from a park.

We moved the shop to 2135 NW 39th street. Subsequently that shop only lasted one year exactly. We lost most of our clientele due to the move. So then we had the bond issue to deal with. The bond was based off of your credit report. Well my credit was shit so my bond through Bond Pro of Tulsa (which they should have been sued by some one) was going to be $66,000 the first year.

Remember this was for a $100,000 bond! So one lucky day between panic attacks, and stress induced depression I got an email from the owner of Outsiders Ink in Tulsa, and he had got his bond for $500. You can use anyone’s credit, and if approved it will only be $500. So since everyone in my family and all of our friends had shitty credit it did not matter to much. We would not have gotten it if it were not for my wife's Aunt. Thank god for her at that time. It was a major weight lifted off of our shoulders. So we got all legit and followed the stupid rules and well some people did not.

A group of shops went to court and got the 1000' rule and the bond taken out. So all of the stress, moving an entire tattoo shop, and getting the other shops grand fathered in was pointless. In retrospect I believe that it makes us appreciate the rules that we have now because we know that they can always be worse.

So that is it in a nutshell. I know that people in the tattoo world don't respect shop owners that do not tattoo, and I understand this entirely. I just knew that I had been getting tattooed in someone’s dining room, spare bedroom, or converted garage for 10 years, and that was stupid. We were in a position to help out the people of our State, and that is what we did.

For as many shops that had popped up in the State (around 100) we sure did not see those people at the Capital or the Health Department. There were a select few people that had a hand in this. Us not being the only ones, but we were in that group. So all the haters can keep hating, but we are going no where but up!

So now you know why we are called "First Amendment Tattoo Company".

I believe that we earned our name! Chris Brady