Can a defendant appeal his conviction for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life?

Defendant claims that his conviction must be reversed because the prosecution failed to present substantial evidence at trial that he knew the firearm was loaded. We disagree. "Evidence of a defendant's state of mind is almost inevitably circumstantial, but circumstantial evidence is as sufficient as direct evidence to support a conviction." ( People v. Bloom (1989) 48 Cal.3d 1194, 1208, [259 Cal.Rptr. 669, 774 P.2d 698].) Defendant and his two passengers were fellow members of a criminal street gang, and defendant knew that one of his passengers was carrying a concealed firearm. A gang expert testified at trial that the primary activities of defendant's gang are "[c]arrying concealed firearms, murders, homicides, [and] shooting into inhabited dwellings." He also testified that members of this gang frequently carry guns in vehicles for the purpose of committing crimes. A reasonable jury could have concluded from this evidence that defendant knew that his fellow gang member would not carry a concealed firearm unless it was loaded since the primary purposes to which his fellow gang members put firearms required that those firearms be loaded.