Since the mid-1800s, when Samuel Colt mass-marketed his revolver with multiple shots, guns have been the object of deeply visceral reactions.

At one end of the emotive spectrum are those who, with a mix of fear and revulsion, can’t or won’t stomach their presence. A variety of criminals are at the opposite extreme, but far more representative is the mass of lawful gun owners who describe their weapons as mere tools, and react to talk of restrictions as though their limbs were being severed.

Hope for a middle ground is slim.

That’s the challenge propelling the first episode of Political Blind Date, a documentary series that begins its second season Feb. 14, at 9 p.m. on TVO. The half-hour episode explores the trauma of gun violence and the sensibilities of “law abiding gun owners.” Filming took place in late August last year, about a month after two girls were killed by a gunman who opened fire on Toronto’s Danforth Ave.

“It was a very delicate time,” says Tom Powers, the series creator and executive producer.

The format of the series, co-produced by Open Door and Nomad Films, forces two politicians with opposing views to spend two days together discussing key social and policy issues, hoping it will result in better understanding.

“These are people that would otherwise not spend five minutes with each other,” Powers says, adding that a goal of the episodes is to create a personal connection between political rivals.

“Two days together is enough time for that connection to happen. They get off their talking points really quickly,” Powers adds. “Even if their views don’t radically change, each and every one of them has learned something about the other side of the issue and the other person.

“To a one, they’ll say they have a friend on the other side.”

The series is a modest antidote to the strident political polarization creeping over the border from the U.S., and gripping much of Europe.

“Political polarization is seen as a real and growing threat to democracy around the world,” says Irene Gentle, editor of the Toronto Star, a partner of the series. “When even just knowing what the other side is saying becomes more difficult due to filter bubbles and heightened emotions,” platforms that encourage compromise become an urgent necessity.

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The series’ first season, which included episodes on marijuana, carbon pricing and transit, became one of the most watched shows on TVO. Series director and writer Mark Johnston says politicians who participated were left feeling that debates were “fair and respectful.”

A memorable highlight was Doug Ford cycling and palling around the city with Jagmeet Singh, who’s now the federal NDP leader, and uttering words that many would want him to govern by now that he’s premier: “Government would be served a lot better if more people had an open mind.”

The series’ success resulted in rights to the show’s format being optioned to production companies in Israel, South Africa, Spain, Belgium and the United Kingdom. And more deals are in the works.

The second season’s six episodes will see rival politicians debating Indigenous issues, taxes, migrant workers, asylum seekers, the urban-rural divide and the topic that kicks off the series — guns.

TVO Original Political Blind Date is a six-part series that brings politicians with different points-of-view together on a “date” to bring to life different perspectives on important Canadian issues that affect Ontarians. The series returns for a fresh second season February 14 at 9 pm on TVO and tvo.org/politicalblinddate. Political Blind Date is produced by Open Door and Nomad Films Inc, in association with TVO. The Toronto Star is the Series Media Partner for Political Blind Date.

It airs as Toronto witnessed a record number of homicides in 2018, as tougher restrictions on gun ownership are poised to become federal law with Bill C-71, and as the Liberal government weighs an outright ban of handguns and assault weapons.

Giving voice to gun owners in the episode is Glen Motz, Conservative MP from the Alberta riding of Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner. He grew up on a farm, spent three decades as a police officer, and like the rest of the Conservative party caucus, opposes Bill C-71 as needlessly targeting lawful gun owners while failing to crack down on gang-related crime.

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“Targeting law-abiding gun owners will not have any — and I mean zero — impact on those who choose to use guns for a violent purpose,” Motz says.

His “date” for the episode is Marco Mendicino, a Liberal MP from the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence. A former lawyer and Crown prosecutor, 45-year-old Mendicino supports Bill C-71. In fact, he supports a ban on all handguns, as do the city councils of Toronto and Montreal.

Chemistry wasn’t a problem. In the episode, Motz and Mendicino share laughs, play basketball and agree that their families are at the core of all that they do.

Motz seems especially easygoing. Tall and affable, the 60-year-old wears his heart on his sleeve and confesses to having spent “many hours driving around in my patrol car shedding tears” at incidents he witnessed as an officer. His kids call him “marshmallow.”

“He’s a nice guy,” Motz says of Mendicino. “I’m surprised he’s a Liberal — just joking.”

On their first date, Motz shows Mendicino around his rural riding. He introduces him to gun owners, including the teacher of a government-mandated course on gun safety for all who want licences.

“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” the teacher tells Mendicino, who doesn’t roll his eyes at the cliché. “It’s just a tool.”

Mendicino is told of current background checks, which Bill C-71 would expand to a would-be owner’s entire life history, rather than just the last five years. (C-71 also forces retailers to keep a record of firearm sales and inventory, requires specific authorization when transporting handguns beyond a gun range, and funds programs to fight gun violence and gangs.)

Residents talk about guns being part of everyday life while growing up on farms, and Mendicino stresses that the Liberal government “doesn’t want to create headaches” for lawful gun owners. But the gulf between him and his hosts is wide.

A spoiler alert might be warranted for what happens at the next spot Motz takes Mendicino: a gun club with a shooting range. Mendicino is invited to choose one of three rifles with scopes for target practice. But he perplexes his hosts, if not insults them, by refusing to even touch the rifles.

He justifies his aversion by saying that guns “kind of make me a bit anxious and nervous.”

As the day ends, Motz sums up the first date: “I think it’s important that urban Canada hear that law-abiding gun owners are not the enemy.”

The second date takes place in Toronto’s Lawrence Heights neighbourhood, a public housing development with 4,000 residents in Mendicino’s riding. Their first stop is the schoolyard of Flemington Public School, where in 2012 a 27-year-old man was shot dead.

Mendicino introduces Motz to community workers who talk of the need to make education more alluring than crime for some kids. The next stop is a playground in Scarborough, where two sisters, aged 5 and 9, were struck by gunfire while playing.

“They’re healing OK but the trauma is still there,” says their mother, Stacey King, who notes her 5-year-old still struggles with nightmares.

By the end of the episode, both Motz and Mendicino agree with community activists that the best way to combat gun violence is by attacking root causes, such as poverty. With an issue as divisive as guns, that’s a breakthrough that deserves applause.