USCA1 Opinion

      [NOT FOR PUBLICATION--NOT TO BE CITED AS PRECEDENT]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, 121 F.3d 7, 10 (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.