AceShowbiz -

Tattoo artist BangBang has posted two pictures of Rihanna on his MySpace page, showing the singer having a new tattoo in form of gun etched on her body. One of the pics shows Rihanna having two gun inks drawn on both of her shoulders, whereas the other one shows her having the gun tattoo printed on her right ribcage.

"I really wanted to put it here... she loved em.. .but, cover girl wouldnt have liked it much... and they pay the bills!" BangBang writes under the first mentioned picture. "Ended up doing it on her ribs...", he writes under the other snap.

"I think it's very empowering, very protective," the tattoo artist of Eastside Ink in New York tells E! News about the meaning behind Rihanna's new gun tattoo. "She had a necklace that had the same little gun on it, and I loved it. I told her she should get it tattooed."

Asked whether the tattoo has something to do with Rihanna's February altercation with Chris Brown, BangBang says, "I think that if anything did happen with her that the tattoo has nothing to do with it. I wasn't there. I don't know what happened, but she's very much herself. She's very happy, and she loves getting tattoos. I don't think it has anything to do with it."

Rihanna flew BangBang from New York to her home in Los Angeles last Thursday, March 19 to ink "one of her friends for a birthday present," the tattoo artist explains, adding "But she wound up tattooing herself!" It "took about 15 minutes" for BangBang to finish Rihanna's new body art, the picture of which can be seen on BangBang's MySpace.

Furthermore insisting that he doesn't know the extent of Rihanna's relationship with Chris Brown, BangBang tells E! News, "That's her personal life, and I am her friend. She's perfect. She's doing great."