Mmkay so how exactly are tattoo's done?

Okay. First of all, it's done with a tattoo machine, not a gun. The machine, using direct current, moves an armature bar up and down at several thousand times a minute. This moves the needle group which collects ink, or, pigment from the tip, which acts as a reservoir, and then it's injected into the top layer of skin, between 1/32 to 2/32 of an inch deep. The ink then mixes with slight amounts of blood and secretions to form a scab. The scab then dyes the skin during the healing process. The ink comes out with the scab. What is left behind is dyed skin... your tattoo. And yes, everything is as sterile as we can possibly make it. The supplies are shipped to us in sterile bags. There is a legal protocoll to sterilizing anything that must be re-used. Stainless steel tips and tubes and the like. In any shop that I know of, keeping everything clean and contaminant free is top priority.