It's complicated, but you're OK to make your trip
The situation in NYS and NYC regarding out-of-state travelers traveling through (or via) with firearms is complicated, confusing and scary - which is just how they like it.
- Yes, NYS and NYC and the Port Authority have taken very hard lines regarding allowing travelers to rely on FOPA and LEOSA for their trips -- chiefs and DAs (presumably at the direction of the politicians) have used restrictive theories of the protections under these laws to harass, imprison and generally wreak mayhem on poor individuals in different circumstances.
- Yes, they have busted people who drove up to NYS and NYC airports from out of state who thought their interstate journeys were protected under FOPA. Yes, some of those people have been arrested at said airports, and No, those people never got their guns back (to my knowledge).
- Yes, they have arrested air travelers who were connecting through LGA/JFK/EWR airports who picked up their firearms cases from the baggage carousel when they missed their connecting flights and had to stay overnight.
HOWEVER, I have not heard of an instance of a traveler "passing through" via private automobile on an uninterrupted journey (and transporting unloaded and locked, in compliance with FOPA) having been harassed (or worse). Doesn't mean it hasn't happened just yesterday or today, but I think we would have found it (and it would have been litigated) by now.
FURTHERMORE, the U.S. Dept. of Justice has weighed in in favor of the FOPA safe harbor on at least some of the abuses mentioned above:
http://handgunlaw.us/documents/doj_doc_nyc_air.pdf
To the OP: the bottom line is that your uninterrupted 100% private automobile trip with transport of your unloaded and secured (locked in case and/or trunk) should be protected under the FOPA safe harbor (you can 'lawfully possess and carry' at the destination, right?). People do it every day. Just don't stop off in NYS/NYC, and don't bring more than 4 guns. Travel safely.
For general advice, try the NYS Rifle & Pistol Association website here:
http://www.nysrpa.org/nygunlaws.htm (see "Non-residents" down the page)
For the legal cites, try the following:
NYS - more cites in the NY Penal Law than I care to link (
http://law.onecle.com/new-york/penal/index.html), but here are a few
- § 265.00 Definitions. {note that "firearm" is a handgun, SBR or SBS, more or less}
- § 265.01 Criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
- § 265.02 Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.
- § 265.03 Criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
- § 265.10 Manufacture, transport, disposition and defacement of weapons and dangerous instruments and appliances.
- § 400.00 Licenses to carry, possess, repair and dispose of firearms. (only if you're having trouble sleeping)
NYC - see the Rules of the City of New York here
http://24.97.137.100/nyc/rcny/entered.htm
- go to Title 38 - Police Department
- go to Chapter 16 - Transport or delivery of Weapons
- read Sections 16-01 (Definitions) and 16-02 (Applicability)
If you want to go further into the details, I'd be happy to drone on.
If you want to know about the racist origins of NY's Sullivan Law (the gun control laws), there's some good info here:
http://www.gunlawnews.org/sullivan.html
If you're really interested in the nuances of NYC and (to a lesser extent) NYS laws on firearms, try the FAQ/discussion thread on the HKPro forums here
http://www.hkpro.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78835. It's up to 40 pages at this point, and we talk through all of these issues, plus many issues peculiar to just NYC, on a regular basis.
/hope this helps
/IANAL
/back to packing the moving truck to get the he11 out of this place