Los Angeles  - Singer Rihanna's latest tattoo appears to be sending a message to boyfriend Chris Brown, who is awaiting trial on charges that he assaulted her in February.

The 21-year-old singer of Disturbia and Take a Bow has chosen to have the image of a handgun tattooed on her ribcage, according to a photo of her posted online Thursday by her tattoo artist BangBang.

On his blog, the New Yorker said that Rihanna had flown him out to her Hollywood home to ink the design, which they decided to put on her ribcage rather than her arms to avoid jeopardizing her lucrative modeling deals. (dpa)