I’m at Penn State at State College, Pa for a few weeks and I thought it would be cool to get an injectable implanted in me as a sentimental “I got this while here” implant. So I looked up some tattoo/piercing shops in the area.
I went in there this afternoon to ask if this is something they were comfortable doing. They knew exactly what I was talking about when I showed them and were familiar with Dangerous Things, but told me legally they could not do it. I was surprised and was like, but this is essentially a piercing, same kind of needle, you just inject the chip and they said no, that the law is very strict about that stuff.
I think it’s crazy that there are laws on the books preventing you from getting implants! They told me the closest place I could do it would be in Pittsburgh.
I just wanted to share this with the group and wonder if anyone else had similar experiences like this anywhere else.
I live in Kansas and it’s the same exact thing here. State law says dermal/subdermal jewelry installs (which DT implants count as) are “surgical procedures” and thus require a licensed medical professional to do. Experienced piercer I went to said he’d love to do it, but the laws the law.
Funny enough, I’m from Kansas.
But now I live in Arkansas, then had to drive to Texas to get my work done. The all day round trip sucks, BUT… if you’re gonna hafta travel, then you can pick a really good installer as long as you’re on the road already.
As far as I can tell there is no provisions that specifically deal with Tattoo or Body Piercing. Title 18 below CRIMES & OFFENCES is the only thing I can find that even mentions it… and it’s extremely sparce.
Title 18 - CRIMES AND OFFENSES
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 or 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.
Section 6311 outlined above is the only mention. I would say this means the State of Pennsylvania is quite open minded about what constitutes body piercing, and basically has no regulations at the State level regarding piercing.
In fact, almost every subsection of Title 18 is about protecting children under the age of 18, and this section regarding tattooing and piercing specifically focuses on performing either on a child under the age of 18 without parent or guardian consent.
Oddly, it mentions “making a permanent hole”, so in theory it would not be illegal to place an implant as the intent is not to make a permanent hole. However, I’m sure someone could bent a “don’t stab kids” law to fit the case if they really wanted to.
County & city level law
This is where things get interesting… there are a few states back east that have a real hands off approach to these kinds of things and let this type of governing happen at the more local levels. As such, cities in PA seem to have quite extensive laws.
In reviewing State College laws, it seems right out of the gate it explicitly implies implants are, in fact, legal.
BODY PIERCING
Perforating the skin for the express intention of insertion of any object including, but not limited to, jewelry; provided, however, that the piercing of the ears shall be specifically excluded from the purview of this ordinance.
That is the only section under definitions that deals with piercing.
Conclusion
Considering the evidence, my professional opinion is that the professional you spoke with;
(g) “Body piercing” means puncturing the skin of a person by aid of needles designed or used to puncture the skin for the purpose of inserting removable jewelry through the human body, except puncturing the external part of the human earlobe shall not be included in this definition. This act shall not be construed to authorize a licensed body piercer to implant or embed foreign objects into the human body or otherwise to engage in the practice of medicine and surgery.
This act shall not be construed to authorize a licensed body piercer to implant or embed foreign objects into the human body or otherwise to engage in the practice of medicine and surgery.
Chapter 65 ( Not an Act )
Article 19 ( Not an Act )
Section 40 ( Not an Act )
Statute 2022 ( Not an Act )…Well, Technically it is because, Statutes are laws, Laws are Acts
BUT if they refer to it as an Act within a document they are calling a Statute, they shouldn’t be used interchangeably, Pick a lane fuck heads!
Check the Glossary:
Definition of Act
Definition of Statute
Unless
American Law is different
Plead ignorance on their poorly written section, Get out the Scalpels, and gets to stabby slicing
(o) “Needle” means a sharp, pointed implement used for the purpose of tattooing, cosmetic tattooing or body piercing. The term “needle” does not include any implements or objects altered to be used as needles.
While a scalpel wouldn’t fit your standard definition of a needle, I suspect it would fit the description of a “sharp, pointed implement” closely enough that it may hold up in court.
This might not be helpful but I had my second implant chip done by a friend who worked as a veterinary tech. It was completely off the books and we did it at her place but she knew how to do it / be clean etc and it turned out fine. When I showed her the needle and explained it she was like “oh! This is just like chipping a dog!” anyway I know not everyone has a friend like that and it would still have been illegal wherever you are probably but installing chips is largely the same for dogs and people apparently
So today I went to every piercing shop in town and they all said the same thing, that they couldn’t and it’s illegal.
So I did some side quests, leveled up, and put some more points into “cool” and it opened up a new line of dialogue when I spoke to the ripperdoc directly. At first he was kinda hesitant, but I showed him my other implants and he was like oh man ok, here take my number, we can set something up outside the shop.
Now it’s time to order an xMagic and get upgraded!
Not sure about a short text, but the pro guide to xseries install pdf is linked in this post. Also, Amal has some videos on YT that show the install process. And the install vid/pic topic has some videos too.
they wouldn’t even though it’s perfectly legal. there. fixed it.
honestly this irritates me so much. if it were me i would print out all the laws and bring them in with me (along with the guide) and ask them to have their legal council review, because my legal council said it’s not prohibited by the laws of State College, PA or the State of PA. As a professional you’re free to deny services, but it appears to be perfectly legal, so maybe stop saying that… but that’s me.
oh no i know that… i’m irritated by people just copping out and saying “it’s illegal” when they clearly don’t have any basis for saying that. then again, i was told by my own lawyer that selling lidocain without a prescription was illegal, but i challenged them on that and i was right… it’s not illegal to sell it, only illegal to practice medicine by injecting it into another person.
anyway I know not everyone has a friend like that and it would still have been illegal wherever you are probably but installing chips is largely the same for dogs and people apparently