Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that 10 million guns had been sold in Canada. In fact, it is estimated there are 10 million guns in Canada.

Dozens of guns lay on display on a table on a busy Hamilton street.

Some passersby stop for a curious look or to pick up a T-shirt; others glare, loudly complain about the weapons and even talk about complaining to police.

This is a scene outside Al Simmons Gun Shop during last year's Locke Street Festival, filmed as part of a new documentary, "Up In Arms: How the Gun Lobby is Changing Canada".

The documentary, which features Hamilton gun shop and pro-gun owner Paulette Langlois prominently, explores gun culture in Canada and the effect gun lobbyists have had on changing regulations around gun control. In particular it looks at the Canadian Shooting Sports Association and its influence on Bill C-42, the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act, which received royal assent in June.

Reached at the Locke Street South gun shop, Langlois declined to comment, noting she hadn't yet been able to view the documentary and didn't want to say anything until after it aired.

It premi�res on TVO on Wednesday at 9 p.m.

The film is timely for Hamilton, where there has been broad public and political discussion about gun regulations and violence following a spike in public shootings this spring and summer.

The guns used in these shootings are what police call "crime guns" - illegal firearms used in a criminal offence or to further criminal activity, or firearms that have been adapted or had a serial number rubbed or filed off.

However, the path from legal to illegal is complex.

Experts say crime guns end up in the hands of Canadian criminals in several ways. Most are still trafficked from the United States, where gun laws are not as strict. Others are stolen from licensed Canadian owners, or from "straw purchasers" who legally buy guns and then sell them.

There are a lot of statistics throughout the film, such as: 50 per cent of gun deaths in Canada are gang or drug related, and 10 million guns in Canada.

In the documentary, Langlois says handguns are the "big seller" now, adding that many people seem to fear a Liberal government would take away the right to "protect yourself."

She shares one story of a customer who had 20 handguns stolen from his home. The gun shop itself was targeted in robbery in March 2014, where the thieves smashed through the front window with their car.

Despite these incidents, Langlois and other gun advocates who appear in the film bemoan the restrictions imposed by the Liberal government in 1995, including around the access and use of guns.

Documentary director Nadine Pequeneza says she hopes the film makes people more aware of gun laws and changes happening.

"I don't think the public is aware (of Bill C-42)," she said, which has been billed by the Conservative government as pro-safety and "restoring respect for Canadian heritage activities like hunting and sport shooting."

One of the major changes highlighted in the film is that the Public Safety Minister can veto the RCMP Chief Firearms Officers' (there's one for each province and territory) decisions around classifying guns as prohibited, restricted or nonrestricted.

Pequeneza says she was inspired to begin work on the documentary after the Danzig Street shooting in Toronto, which killed two people and injured 22 others in July 2012.

Five months later was the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, where 27 people were killed, including 20 children. She was upset by the conversation around guns in the U.S. and says she wanted to film the documentary while people are still willing to speak freely in Canada.

Gun regulation is an incredibly complex issue, Pequeneza said, explaining that those who say guns don't cause crimes, and those who say more guns means more crimes, are both being too simplistic.

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Throughout the filming, she said she was surprised to learn that some gun owners equate restriction with confiscation.

"There really is a level of paranoia ... the fear that the ultimate goal is to confiscate guns," Pequeneza said.

Ultimately she would like to see a greater study of how guns make their way from the legal market to the black market and see communities address the root causes of crime, particularly among youth.