PA Law and Piercing of Minors

This has been an issue lately, so I figured it needed some explanation.

PA Title 18, subsection 6311 is the only law in PA regarding piercing and tattooing of persons under the legal age of consent (currently under 18). Here is how the law reads, exactly:

6311. Tattooing and body piercing.

(a) Tattooing.— A person commits an offense if he tattoos any person under the age of 18 years without the parent of guardian of such person giving consent for the tattooing of the person and being present at the time of the tattooing of the person.

(b) Body piercing.— A person commits an offense if for compensation he punctures a part of the body of any person under the age of 18 years with the intent to create a permanent hole for cosmetic purposes without the parent or guardian of such person giving consent for the piercing of the person and being present at the time of the piercing of the person.

(c) Grading.— A person who commits an offense under this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree for the first offense. A person who commits a second or subsequent offense under this section within one year of the preceding offense commits a misdemeanor of the second degree (May 21, 2004, P.L.232, No.36, eff.60 days)

We uphold this law. Which means that we cannot allow a brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandparents or any other adult who is not the parent or legally authorized guardian of the minor to sign for any piercings. We apologize for this inconvenience, as we understand that we live in a busy society. But the law is the law. And this one is VERY specific.

We also have a studio rule regarding identification that we uphold for all first-time clients, newly age-18 clients and the parent or guardian of a minor. ID must be presented at the time of signing the authorization documents. And it must be legal ID: State issued Driver’s License or Identification Card, US Passport, Military ID, or other government-issued identification if non-US Citizen. Basically, if you can’t get on an airplane with it, it doesn’t fly here either! 😁