An M4 carbine is staged on the firing line at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on Aug. 2, 2025. A similar rifle was left unattended in a New Orleans hotel restroom by a Louisiana National Guardsman on Feb. 8, 2026. (Alejandro Pena/U.S. Army)
A Louisiana National Guard soldier is in hot water after his rifle was found unattended in a bathroom in New Orleans’ French Quarter, a magnet for tourists.
The military-issue M4 was discovered leaning against a sink in the restroom of the Lafitte Hotel on Bourbon Street on Sunday after a guard member making a pit stop left it behind, CBS News reported Tuesday.
A photo of the rifle was posted to Reddit shortly afterward.
Louisiana National Guard spokeswoman Lt. Col. Noel Collins told local news outlet NOLA.com on Tuesday that the rifle had been returned and that the incident was being handled internally.
The unidentified soldier was removed from his duties for retraining, Task & Purpose reported, citing Collins.
Approximately 350 National Guard soldiers were deployed to New Orleans in December to provide added security for New Year’s Eve, the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras, NOLA.com reported. The deployment is expected to last through the end of February.
The guard members’ deployment comes a little over a year after an Army veteran drove a truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 14.
The driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a shootout with police a short time later.
