You listed the key issue in your post:
"Most law-abiding New Yorkers don't have a clue how to operate a gun (and aren't really interested in learning), very few own guns, and many can't afford to run out and buy one."
KEWL! Let 'em bleed, then. If a whimp, or a whimpess, refuses to arm themselves - that refusal in absolutely no way creates a right for the whimp, or whimpess, to demand that other citizens be stripped of their 2nd Amendment rights.
Still less, does the whimp/whimpess have the right to strip visitors of their 2nd Amendment rights when they have to go to the Big Sh*tty on business.
Cowardice is no excuse to violate your fellow American's rights - unless you are some Democratic scum living in the Big Sh*tty.
LOL.. I love the Big Sh%#ty remark.
It's not really matter of "refusal". It's a socio-political reality. While I'd certainly support aggressive measures to change it, it does need to be factored into any serious proposals re when and how to eliminate the laundry list of unconstitutional gun laws in NYC (and to a great extent in NY State as a whole). If all the gun laws are suddenly eliminated one day, a huge bloodbath in which lots of innocent people get killed quickly ensued, all that will be achieved is to create a dangerous political groundswell of anti-gun sentiment. There IS a mechanism for amending the Constitution, and we need to be careful not to let the critical mass of citizens needed to accomplish that become inclined to wipe out the 2nd Amendment.
You've put forward a rational case for why less gun control could, in theory, result in more crime. However, this view is purely hypothetical, and the real world does not support it. There is still not a single instance where more permissive carry laws were followed by an increase in crime. There were several large metropolitan areas with neighborhoods that were controlled by gangsters that now allow concealed carry- e.g. Miami, Houston. After concealed carry was allowed predicted spikes in violent crime never materialized. I don't think we should give speculation about "streets running with blood" any credence until there is evidence to support it. Such speculation is certainly not justification for infringing our rights- especially not when all empirical evidence indicates that concealed carry will result in less violence against innocent citizens.