Your analogy of a physical lock/key combination with AES 256 bit mathematical algorithms has just proved to me you don't have a clue about what you are talking about where I do know what I am talking about. Sorry, you lose. There is simply no comparison between the two situations, Okie.
The only way your analogy would fit is if there were only seven possible keys to the AES encryption and those keys were published in the Washington Post. That is not the case, Okie, instead, there are . . .
1,052,019,282,033,700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible keys.
1.052 duovigintillion possible keys that could be used, if the users had just a 16 character passcode.
The other problem with your analogy, is that Apple has not provided the government with any such backdoor key that could be compromised by such sheer stupidity. As I've repeatedly pointed out, there are no backdoors.