[NOT FOR PUBLICATION--NOT TO BE CITED AS PRECEDENT] United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit

No. 98-2206

UNITED STATES,

Appellee,

v.

JOSEPH AMORE,

Defendant, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

[Hon. Ronald R. Lagueux, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Lynch, Circuit Judge, Bownes, Senior Circuit Judge, and Lipez, Circuit Judge.

Robert B. Mann and Mann & Mitchell on brief for appellant. Margaret E. Curran, United States Attorney, and Kenneth P. Madden, Assistant United States Attorney, on brief for appellee.

April 7, 1999

Per Curiam. Upon careful review of the briefs and record, we cannot say that a connection between defendant's possession of guns and his drug trafficking was clearly improbable. The district court was not required to credit defendant's assertions to the contrary, including his assertion that shotguns kept loaded in his house were for hunting only. See United States v. McDonald,

(1st Cir. 1997). Accordingly, the district court did not clearly err in enhancing defendant's sentence under U.S.S.G. 2D1.1(b)(1). Affirmed. See 1st Cir. Loc. R 27.1.