Is It Legal to Travel Through NYC with Legally Owned Weapons

My question involves criminal law for the state of: New York

I'm currently a Pennsylvania resident and a legal gun owner for 6 years, having moved out of New York for college and staying in Philadelphia ever since. I have a friend who lives on Staten Island, NY (within NYC limits) and him and I would like to make plans to go hang out in the Poconos and visit a few shooting ranges for a few days. Our problem is, my friend does not own a car since he is still in college and commutes only a few blocks, so I would have to pick him up and give him a ride with me. We've done so before on past trips, but this time I'd like to go to shooting ranges. What are the laws regarding transportation of firearms through NYC limits for non-residents who (obviously) do not possess NYC gun permits? I read somewhere they can be within city limits for no longer than 24 hours and so long as the trip is continuous and uninterrupted. Is this true? And what constituted "continuous and uninterrupted?" If I stop outside his house, without shutting my car or getting out (and he simply walks out his door and gets in), would that count as interrupted?

We've weighed other options of getting him out of city limits, but with luggage and distance, and the fact New Jersey allegedly has the same "continuous and uninterrupted" rules, we're very limited on courses of action.

As a side note: if it is legal as per those rules, would all my guns be "legal?" Or would I still only be limited to my bolt action rifles/sporting rifles and have to leave my semi-automatics and handguns at home? I don't want to "legally" transport an "illegal" weapon such as an AR15 through NYC if I can't, I'd be fine with a simple rifle.

Thanks in advance!

I am not an attorney. I do hold an FFL.

In theory FOPA should protect you. In practice people who have been caught in NYC and the NJ Port Authority travelling through have found out otherwise, and while the final outcome may have been that they beat the rap, it cost them a lot of money to do so.

You have an additional problem: the driving license issue from NY earlier this year (yes I read your prior posts). While you were eventually exonerated, if a NY cops runs your plate there's very likely to be a "hit" on it because information in government databases is very rarely purged. So, figure you have a bullseye on your back.

Don't take your own guns into the state. If you want to go shooting with your friend, find a range that has rental guns.

I drive on Staten Island about 2-3 times a week for work and to visit family and have lived there for about 10 years, I've never been bothered by cops aside from always seeing them sitting on the shoulder clocking speed, which given how much traffic there is nowadays, wouldn't be a problem either. My friend also lives off the first exit off the bridge between NY and NJ, so my "detour" would have me driving down about 2 streets before I'm back on the bridge and out of dodge.

My car is also registered in NY, while my license is a Pennsylvania license, if that changes anything.

FOPA will **NOT** help here. You were not travelling "through" the state when you stopped to pick up your friend. Court case held that only stops specifically incidental to the trip (getting gas, using the bathroom, eating a meal) are covered under the exemption. Picking up a passenger is not incidental to your passage through the state.

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Quoting flyingron

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FOPA will **NOT** help here. You were not travelling "through" the state when you stopped to pick up your friend. Court case held that only stops specifically incidental to the trip (getting gas, using the bathroom, eating a meal) are covered under the exemption. Picking up a passenger is not incidental to your passage through the state.

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Right! If your friend lived in Greenwich CT, and you passed over the George Washington Bridge and through the Bronx (NYC) to pick your friend up, your trip may be legal. But being you're going into NYC to pick your friend up, it is illegal because you cannot possess a firearm in NYC without a permit. And you still have another obstacle to climb and that is New Jersey. New jersey won't even honer HR218, so imagine what New Jersey would do to you.

Drama, you must follow each jurisdiction's laws when traveling, now if you were/are a police officer as long as you met the criteria, federal law permits you to carry in any state, regardless of local/state laws.

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Quoting RJR

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Drama, you must follow each jurisdiction's laws when traveling, now if you were/are a police officer as long as you met the criteria, federal law permits you to carry in any state, regardless of local/state laws.

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Except that NJ wants you to apply for a carry permit if you are a LEO from out of state. NJ wants you to jump through hoops to carry here. I read in the paper a few times a year that LEO get arrested for carrying.

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Quoting Who'sThatGuy

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Except that NJ wants you to apply for a carry permit if you are a LEO from out of state. NJ wants you to jump through hoops to carry here. I read in the paper a few times a year that LEO get arrested for carrying.

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It appears as if that foible from June was rectified in subsequent legislation in July. The original legislation had denied active NJ officers the ability to carry off-duty as well, and this has since been rectified.

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2018/B...00/2846_I1.HTM

If an out of state LEO has been arrested, I suspect it was because he was carrying AND acting like a jackass or committed some act or offense that brought him to the attention of local law enforcement for reasons originally not directly related to his carrying.

Carl, is this still good law, The Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act, it "occupies the field" of state gun carry laws;

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/926C

That section is good from the fed side, but each state has enacted law to reflect the federal law to some extent. Each state and agency is also free to determine what might constitute a retired officer for purposes of the legislation, and some agencies have determined through policy that an officer separated from service through disability is NOT "retired" and thus not eligible for protections pursuant to LEOSA (there was a case last year in CA that addressed that very issue, and I am on the sidelines of one that is currently swirling about and may result in litigation ... not by me, FYI).

NJ's problem appeared to have occurred in June when they passed legislation that effectively prevented even active off-duty LEOs from carrying concealed firearms. Whether this was intentional or simply a matter of exceedingly poor review by the legislature appears to be a matter of some debate in LE circles. But, it appears that in late July this foible had been corrected by subsequent legislation to permit off duty and retired carry once again.