Home Guy wrote:

Most commercial establishments have nothing to gain, and much to lose
(from a legal / liability / insurance standpoint) to NOT make /
announce that their property is a "gun-free" zone.

So right off the bat, we can assume that most commercial
establishments (shopping malls, theaters, restaurants, factories,
offices, hospitals) are gun-free zones. We know that many
public-sector facilities (schools, libraries, gov't offices, court
buildings, DMV, airports, etc) are probably gun-free zones even if
they are not signed as such.

Nope. In my state every commercial establishment, by state law, is a "gun
friendly" zone, unless the owner posts a sign declaring concealed weapons
prohibited.

Best legal thinking is to post no sign at all, either prohibiting or
encouraging gun carry. Here's why. If you post a "no guns" sign, you are
implicitly taking responsibility for your patrons. If a person who normally
carrys a gun leaves his in the car, trusting you to protect him, and a bad
thing happens, YOU, the owner, will be hit by such legal damage claims,
you'll be reduced to operating a hot-dog cart. Conversely, if you erect a
sign encouraging gun carry and something goes amiss, you'll be accused of
encouraging the violence by the welcoming sign.

No, the best legal thinking is no sign or policy at all.


So in reality, where are the non-"gun-free" zones?

In my state less than 1% of the publically available enterprises. In my
state, we can carry a firearm into the state Capitol, the governor's office,
and, by law, any entity owned or leased by any agency of government except
schools. These include libraries, water treatment plants, city hall, and
everything else a city, county, mosquito control district, etc. Further,
this includes public hospitals.


If the US was suddenly confronted with people being electrocuted by
toasters, even if the vast majority of people continued to use
toasters without injury, you can bet that next year the old toaster
designs would be replaced with new ones. The same problem-solving
mentality is never applied when the consumer product in question is
personal firearms. Why is that?

Could be because of our 2nd Amendment which says "... the right of the
people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Note that amendment
does not include toasters.