> You're taking the metaphor a bit too literally.

Or maybe the metaphor is flawed?

GP says that public spaces are adult-only by default, the parent rightly points out this is nonsense: public spaces are Safe for Work (and for kids) by default, and you have to prove you're an adult to access the adult-only spaces. Which is exactly what laws like this are trying to do by analogy to the physical world.

It's not OP that's interpreting the metaphor too literally, the public-spaces metaphor is literally the main justification for these laws and GP doesn't understand how public spaces work.