Pop star Britney Spears has caused controversy by brandishing a gun on set of her new music video moments after wearing a Virginia Tech hoodie.

Pictures posted online show the "Work B***h" singer pointing a silver pistol at a man in a car while filming the video for her new single "Perfume".

Moments earlier, the singer was pictured in a red hoodie with a bright orange 'Virginia Tech' logo, thought to belong to her boyfriend David Lucado.

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Spears, 31, will now face fierce criticism for her arguable glamorisation of gun crime.

The "Perfume" video was being produced in Palmdale, California ahead of the singer's new album Britney Jean, released next week. Spears is pictured wearing a leather jacket and blowing pink bubblegum.

The Virginia Tech shooting spree sent shockwaves through America in 2007 when 32 people were killed and 17 wounded by a lone gunman.

Spears faced previous accusations of glamorising gun crime when filming her video for "Criminal" in 2011 in London.

The pop star angered residents in the borough of Hackney by fleeing a building clutching a gun shortly after the London riots.

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney, said at the time: "It is only a music video but it's images like this, with pop stars glamorising gangs, which means that some young people get drawn in."

Spears fought back against her critics following the "Criminal" scandal, writing in a statement that the video was "a fantasy story which literally plays out the lyrics of a song written three years before the riots ever happened".

Sure to spark yet more controversy, a new musical entitled Spears The Musical: The Gospel According To Britney is believed to be in the pipeline for stage production, after a preview was held in New York earlier this month.

The play will tell the story of Jesus using Spears' classic hits "Baby One More Time", "Stronger" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy".