Avila-Mercado

MEMORANDUM *

Esteban Avila-Mercado was convicted following a guilty plea of a single count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a). He was sentenced to 57 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. He appeals his sentence arguing that the district court erred by increasing his base sentencing level for a prior “aggravated felony” under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A) based on his Nevada state conviction for attempted possession of a short-barreled shotgun. The facts and prior proceedings are known to the parties; they are not restated herein except as necessary.

U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A) requires a 16-level increase to the base offense level where the defendant has been previously deported following a conviction for an aggravated felony. Avila-Mercado had been previously deported following a state conviction for attempted possession of a short-barreled gun in violation of Nev.Rev.Stat. 202.275. We have held that a conviction for the possession of an unregistered firearm of the kind defined in 26 U.S.C. § 5845 , which includes the prohibited weapons listed in Nev.Rev.Stat. 202.275, qualifies as an aggravated felony because it…