Throughout the nation, various cities own property they rent out for various things. It’s a source of revenue for these communities, revenue that doesn’t hold the burden on the citizenry that taxes does. These range from entertainment venues to convention centers and are generally open for almost anything thing so long as it’s legal.

But lately, a number of communities have decided to end one legal activity from taking place on these properties and that’s gun shows. While gun shows are far from the mecca of illicit gun transactions anti-gunners claim, the media has done little to quell those fears.

Now, the city of Knoxville, TN seems to be joining the clown show of cities trying to end gun shows on city property.

Knoxville City Council voted 8-1 to formally ask the mayor to stop allowing gun shows on property owned by the city.

The vote was largely a symbolic gesture that formally expressed the opinion of council. The decision is ultimately up to the mayor.

The resolution is not legally binding. It does not ban gun shows on private property, such as the Knoxville Expo Center. It adds no restrictions to purchasing firearms in the city.

Yet, the symbolism was important to those in attendance at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. All speakers were in favor of the resolution.

The main place the change will affect is Chilhowee Park in East Knoxville.  The Jacob Building at the park has hosted gun shows for several decades.

The saving grace is that this isn’t actually binding. However, the two candidates for mayor who will soon be taking over the city are also in favor of this resolution, so it sure looks like this is going to be in effect in the not-so-distant future.

And that’s a shame.

Look, gun shows don’t represent a threat to the community. Despite the phrase “gun show loophole,” the vast majority of gun sales at such shows are with licensed dealers who perform the federally mandated background checks. Those who don’t pass it don’t get to buy a gun. While there are a handful of private sales that do take place at gun shows, they’re not particularly common at most shows. They represent a tiny fraction of the total number of sales.

What gun shows do, however, is given people the opportunity to handle a wide variety of firearms, more than they’d generally see at a local gun store. Even if they don’t finalize the transaction there, it can give them an idea of which firearms fit their hands well and which don’t. They can provide networking for gun owners to learn about places to train and which instructors actually know what they’re talking about and which don’t.

Lots of good comes from gun shows, all of which will soon be wiped away because the city of Knoxville, Tennessee has their undies in a bunch over hysterics that have been overhyped by the mainstream media.

The loser in this? Knoxville.

People will still continue to buy guns. They’ll continue to carry guns. None of that will change. There will still likely be gun shows in the city as well since this only pertains to city property. Now, though, that money will come into private hands rather than the city’s coffers, creating a potential shortfall that will have to be made up for somehow.

Guess that didn’t come up in the discussion of this measure, now did it?