I've been to NYC multiple times(used to live an hour north near White Plains) and I've never felt like I might have to fight there. Walking around Dallas makes me want to have an M4 slung over my shoulder sometimes.
NYC is like everywhere else though, use some common sense and you're fine. Walking around NYC in Brooklyn @ 3am is just as bad of an idea as walking around parts of Dallas or Houston @ 3am.
As a born and bred NY Yankee, sometimes I wonder about southerners
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
But I won't move back to NY, ever, for the reasons you've posted. I take the 2nd Amendment a bit more seriously than I did then. Vermont, or NH, on the other hand......