I'm glad YANAL, because these sorts of cases have been prosecuted since 1911 when the Sullivan Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Act was passed. Just recently a California attorney who is a bigwig in some 2A organization was busted as he tried to declare his unloaded, secured handgun in his checked baggage for his flight back home - thus implicating him for having had the handgun in NYC for several days.
As much as it pains me to say it, I'm glad the penalty for being stupid in NYC is severe. Carrying a handgun is a huge responsibility that goes well beyond knowing how to manipulate the item - it involves becoming knowlegable about not only the statute laws but the courts' interpretations of the laws - all while otherwise being untrained and uneducated in the law. Failing to meet that responsibility has consequences for not only the individual but for all those that come after them - I'm willing to bet that NYC installs metal detectors at the 9/11 memorial and thus subjects
all visitors to 4th Amendment violations being done in the name of "public safety".
What seems to stun the "gun community" is that this person, as naive as she may be, was not aware of the draconian prohibition against firearms in NYC. It's sort of one of those things that even girls (no offense to the females of the species - just trying to make a point) are supposed to know, like "don't spit into the wind" or why you are not allowed to climb into the gorilla exhibit to hug the big, fuzzy animals. Seriously, go ask your grandmother if guns are allowed in NYC - I'll bet she knows!
And yes, the odds of her getting away with little or no jail tme are quite good. But only because NYC knows it is cheaper to make her pay them than to have to spens $$ to keep her in prison. Whatever the penalty imposed at sentencing, the damage will be done - among others the loss of not only property but of the right to vote, to hold office, to engage in her chosen profession, and what seemed to be her biggest concern, the right to posses firearms for self defense.
Thanks to the publicity of cases like this maybe the general public will become more aware of the laws against firearms possession in NYC - not that it will do much if anything to try and change them.
And for those using this case as another rallying point for national reciprocity or a national CCW system - no thanks! I see what NYC has done and truely fear what the nanny state feds might do either all at once or incrementally. YMMV. I'll live with needing to check each state's rules before I go there.
stay safe.