Opinion ID: 2996252
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether it was “clearly improbable” the gun

Text: was connected to the offense The next question is whether it was clearly improbable that the gun was connected to the drug offense. As we have stated, guns found in close proximity to drug activity are presumptively connected to that activity. United States v. Adams, 125 F.3d 586, 597 (7th Cir. 1997). In fact, we have held that the § 2D1.1(b)(1) enhancement can be applied when the connection between the gun and the Nos. 02-1493 & 02-1734 11 drugs is only temporal in nature. United States v. Grimm, 170 F.3d 760, 768 (7th Cir. 1999). In United States v. Grimm, we held that it was not clearly improbable to conclude that a connection existed between a gun found in the defendant’s trunk when he was arrested and a drug shipment made with the same car six weeks prior to the arrest. Id. In the case at bar, far more than temporal proximity connects Lopez to the gun found in the bathroom. The apartment was clearly a stash house being used for illicit drug activity. Whether Lopez resided in the apartment or worked there on prior occasions, as the district court found, or whether he was in the apartment for the first time, as he claims, does not affect the connection between the drug activity and the gun. There is no other explanation for the presence of the gun in that apartment than to utilize it in connection with the drug activity taking place inside. Lopez points to nothing that would contradict this strong presumption, and therefore, we find that the district court properly applied the § 2D1.1(b)(1) sentence enhancement. Finally, Lopez’s request that the case be remanded for a determination of his eligibility under USSG § 5C1.2 is denied because we affirm the district court’s conclusion that Lopez possessed a firearm in connection with the offense.