Pulses on gates are extremely annoying to contend with as a transport which is neutral or even friendly to the gate in question, because, as soon as a wing of NPC pirates spawns near the gate, the turrets go wild. Stray pulse bursts will then either remove your shields or drop the first trade lane ring, resulting in scattered convoys and damaged hulls. Apparently, it only takes 1 pulse round to drop a lane, but they can withstand multiple normal rounds.
For whatever reason, this doesn't seem to be as prevalent a problem around stations, tho.