Rihanna's tattoo artist explains her new ink

Rihanna isn't shy about getting tattoos. When she wanted a new one, she flew her friend BangBang, a New York-based tattoo artist, to her home in Los Angeles to give her new ink.

"She flew me out for the purposes of tattooing one of her friends," he said. "I've tattooed her a few times, and she gave me a call and asked if I could come out to her house. I wound up tatting her as well. We've been playing with it for about a year, and I was at her house, and I suggested she finally get the gun."

BangBang - who also did the star tattoos on Rihanna's back, the Roman numerals on her shoulder and the word "Shhh ... " on her finger - said the singer seemed in great spirits when he was at her house. Rihanna has been in the news a lot lately because of an alleged altercation with boyfriend Chris Brown last month.

BangBang said he thinks the gun tattoo represents strength and power. Initially, the duo wanted to put the tattoo below her shoulders near her armpits but changed it to her ribcage because "it takes away from her face. You don't want to be starting at tats. You want to be staring at her face."

Rihanna didn't express any reservation about getting the gun tattoo.

"People are going to react all different ways," BangBang said. Rihanna and BangBang already have more tattoo plans up their sleeves. "We got something planned for this year," he said.