There is probably a huge difference in NY. I haven't lived in NY since before their latest round of gun banning so don't take what I say as gospel, but NY used to be long guns were legal just about anywhere, no permits, no ltcs no banned list. Some of that has changed for the worse. Handguns required permitting and involved gray areas. Rifles and shotguns were basically unregulated. Also there weren't any of the stupid laws like ME has where you can't be in the woods with a gun unless you are legally hunting.
This is true as far as I can tell
All the NY laws I have read have said a license is required to possess a hand gun and if the license has no restrictions, then you can carry a handgun concealed. No license for possession of a long gun. Standard AWB rules apply just like MA and the old fed AWB.
In Westchester county it is illegal to be afield with a rifle. No other county is listed as having a restriction. Some states like Maine say that if you are a field with a rifle you are considered hunting and hunting reqs apply. No such verbage in NYS that I can find.
Having a cased rifle is not concealed, is it? MA requires all rifles to be cased when on a public way. I have found no such law in NY state. However that doesn't mean it can't be cased. Being in a backpack seems to me that it would be considered cased. I can find no other laws in NYS that mention anything about rifles than I have not already listed.
There are some environmental laws that apply to hunting where no more than 6 rounds can be loaded in a rifle or shotgun, but there is no presumption of hunting, like in ME, that if you are in the woods with a rifle, that you are hunting. Now walking around with a loaded rifle slung on your body could look like hunting, but fishing with it having it cased because I don't want to leave it in my vehicle or in my RV would not be considred hunting unless there is a law that states such, which I can not find.
Also one of the posters suggested I just carry a handgun regardless of what the law is, because bad guys don't follow the law and my life is worth more than what the law says, is recommending I commit a felony.
Everything I have read indicates there is nothing illegal with a non resident carrying a rifle ( even if it's a small folded rifle ) in a backpack especially afield.
However I ask the question because in MA the average person can not tell what is legal or not just by reading the law because the law is so convoluted. A perfect example is storing a loaded weapon in a parked vehicle. No where in the storage law does it prohibit storage in a vehicle, or prevent storage of a loaded weapon. But MA considers a weapon in an unintended vehicle to be under transport even if the car is parked for 10 years in the same location and people have been jacked up for leaving a loaded weapon stored in a trunk of a vehicle because it isn't considered stored, it's considered under transport and therefore by law must be unloaded unless under your direct control which it isn't if the car is parked and you aren't there.
Several people indicate that it is legal to be in possession of a rifle in a case ( would indicate not hunting ) while fishing and crossing the street and floating down a river. I was hoping one of the lawyers would chime in and give a non-professional opinion as they understand it.
There is probably a huge difference in NY. I haven't lived in NY since before their latest round of gun banning so don't take what I say as gospel, but NY used to be long guns were legal just about anywhere, no permits, no ltcs no banned list. Some of that has changed for the worse. Handguns required permitting and involved gray areas. Rifles and shotguns were basically unregulated. Also there weren't any of the stupid laws like ME has where you can't be in the woods with a gun unless you are legally hunting.
