Cite as Jackson v. U.S., 926 F.2d 763 (8th Cir. 1991)

                Robert Eugene Jackson, Appellant,

                               v.

               United States of America, Appellee.

                          No. 90-2233.

         United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

                     Submitted Feb. 1, 1991.

                     Decided Feb. 26, 1991.

       Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied May 8, 1991.

     Kirk Lyons, Houston, Tex., for appellant.

      Michael Jones, Springfield, Mo., for appellee.

     Before JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge, BRIGHT, Senior Circuit
Judge and FAGG, Circuit Judge.

     PER CURIAM.

     Robert Eugene Jackson was sentenced to a total term of twenty
years upon his convictions by a jury on eight counts involving
conspiracy to possess and possession of firearms. Jackson appeals
the district court's [footnote 1] denial of his motion under 28
U.S.C. section 2255 for correction of his sentence on the ground
that this total term exceeded the statutory maximum under 26 U.S.C.
section 5871.  We affirm.

     Jackson was indicted on eight counts of a nine-count
indictment. Count one charged Jackson with conspiring to acquire
and possess firearms between March 31 and April 30, 1987; counts
two through seven charged Jackson with possessing specific
unregistered firearms on April 30, 1987, in violation of 26 U.S.C.
sections 5861(d) and 5871; and count eight charged him with
possessing firearms (different from those in counts two through
seven) on April 30, 1987, while a fugitive from justice. A jury
convicted Jackson on all eight counts. The district court sentenced
him to concurrent ten-year sentences on counts two through four;
concurrent ten-year sentences on counts five through seven to run
consecutively with the terms imposed on counts two through four;
five years on count one to run concurrently with the terms imposed
on counts two through seven; and five years on count eight to run
concurrently with all other terms.

     Jackson filed the instant action for correction of his
sentence on the ground that the sentences imposed on counts two
through seven exceeded the ten-year statutory maximum under 26
U.S.C. section 5871 for a single course of conduct, i.e., the
simultaneous possession of unregistered firearms. [footnote 2] The
district court denied the motion, finding that each unregistered
firearm was a separate unit of prosecution even though
simultaneously possessed. Jackson reasserts his argument on appeal.

     Section 5861, part of the National Firearms Act, prohibits,
inter alia, the manufacture, receipt or possession, and transfer of
"a firearm" which is unregistered. Each unregistered firearm
supports a separate unit of prosecution under the statute, and the
same firearm may generate violations of more than one provision of
section 5861. United States v. Nichols, 731 F.2d 545, 546-47 (8th
Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1085, 105 S.Ct. 589, 83 L.Ed.2d 699
(1984). When violations of section 5861 relate to one course of
conduct, the sentence cannot exceed the ten-year maximum in section
5871. Id. at 547.

     Here, the possession of each unregistered firearm supported a
separate unit of prosecution and a separate course of conduct. See
id. Thus, each count of possession of an unregistered firearm was
subject to the ten-year maximum under section 5871. Jackson's
reliance on Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 75 S.Ct. 620, 99
L.Ed. 905 (1955) (Mann Act ambiguous on unit of prosecution; doubt
resolved in favor of defendant), is misplaced because the statute
here refers explicitly to "a firearm."

     Accordingly, we affirm the district court's order.

                            FOOTNOTES

1. The Honorable Russell G. Clark, United States District Judge for
the Western District of Missouri.

2. The rejection of Jackson's other claim raised below is not
challenged on appeal.