CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A young self-taught manicurist who said he was inspired by the movie “Ghandi” manicured without a license outside the state licensing office Monday, earning himself a date in court and a trip to jail.

Michael Fisher had advertised his protest and planned to get arrested to call attention to what he considers needless obstacles facing small-time entrepreneurs. Among them he counts the requirement to get a license from the state Board of Barbering, Cosmetology and Esthetics.

“These types of restrictions, anything that gets in the way, deter or kill businesses,” he told the Exeter News-Letter for a story published Friday. “People who just start a business just want to do it.”

Fisher said he and his wife moved from Burlington, Vt., to Newmarket last year to start a home-based computer troubleshooting business.

“It’s hard in Vermont to start a business,” he told the paper, which is published three times a week. “In New Hampshire, it was just a $50 fee and a trade-name registration.”

He said licensing laws are well-intentioned, but it took him only half an hour to learn sanitary manicure procedures on the Internet. His customer Monday identified herself as Kat Dillon of Frost, Texas. Like Fisher, she is a member of the Free State Project that has chosen New Hampshire where it hopes to make itself a political force by having members move to the state. Free Staters favor minimal government and maximum personal freedom.

Anne Dalton, manicurist member of the state board, said licensed manicurists must know much more than clipping, filing and painting nails.

Before qualifying for a license, would-be manicurists in New Hampshire must log hundreds of hours of hands-on work and pass written and practical exams on sanitation, sterilization and skin and nail infections, she said.

Manicurists are trained to identify skin and nail infections and symptoms of more serious conditions that manifest in the feet, such as diabetes and heart problems, Dalton said.

“I just shake my head” said Dalton of Fisher’s crusade against licensing. “He’s not talking about small business, he’s specifically talking about, I don’t feel that you need a license to work on something.”‘

She said manicure licensing is common in most, if not all, states.

Lt. Jay Brown said Concord Police got a call from the board after inspectors verified that Fisher was indeed performing a manicure outside their offices.

Fisher would not see a bail commissioner, so was taken to the Merrimack County jail pending his arraignment Tuesday in Concord District Court for violating the licensing law, a misdemeanor.

“It’s obviously a statute we don’t deal with a lot,” Brown said.

A call to the board for comment was referred to an administration who would not be available until Tuesday.