@connor1231 I also agree that I was super muddy on why I would start out down one path or another (Gates vs Policies). Found this essay on the web to be useful. Also, towards the bottom, it has a specific paragraph related to this question.

https://www.twilio.com/en-us/blog/developers/community/what-are-laravel-policies-and-how-to-use-them-to-control-access

Here are some of the key comparisons between Gates and Policies:

Scope: Gates are designed for simple authorization scenarios, where only a single check is required to determine whether a user has access to a particular resource. On the other hand, Policies are designed for more complex authorization scenarios, where multiple rules may be required to determine whether a user has access to a resource.
Flexibility: Laravel Policies are generally more flexible than Gates, as they can be used to control access to any resource in a Laravel application, while Gates are typically used to control access to specific actions or routes.
Syntax: The syntax for defining Gates and Policies is slightly different. Gates are defined using a callback function, while Policies are defined as a separate class with specific methods for each action.
Granularity: Laravel Policies allow for finer-grained control over resource access, as they can be defined for specific models or model types. Gates are typically defined at the route or controller level, which may not provide the same level of granularity.

Authorization Using Policies