'Safe Haven': Outdoor Channel's first documentary looks at gun-free zones

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Do gun-free zones actually create a 'Safe Haven'?

Fox News Contributor Katie Pavlich: 'Gun-free zones aren't gun free'

NEW YORK – The Outdoor Channel’s first-ever documentary, “Safe Haven: Gun-Free Zones in America," airs Wednesday night. Hosted by Fox News contributor and Townhall editor Katie Pavlich, the film explores whether or not gun free zones are effective, and goes into detail on the controversy over campus carry.

FOX411: Tell us more about "Safe Haven."

Katie Pavlich: It takes a critical look at gun free-zones in America. We all know what gun-free zones are. We see them in our schools and our businesses and cities across the country, and what we do in this film is really take a look at if gun-free zones have provided safe havens for people who operate inside of them.

FOX411: Why are you so passionate about this?

Pavlich: I’ve always been interested in the gun control debate. I live in Washington, D.C. and that’s something that we’ve seen nationally but lately we’ve seen a lot of controversy over concealed carry bills in state legislatures for campus carry in terms of universities and students being able to carry firearms onto the university campuses, and this film address that. “Safe Haven” takes a look at campus carry. Amanda Collins, who is an advocate for campus carry is in the film, and she talks about her story, and what she went through as a result of gun-free zone policies.  And really the point is gun-free zones, and when you take a look at gun-free zones whether it’s with mass shootings or rape on campus, that bad people bring guns onto gun-free zones whereas people who need to protect themselves are left defenseless, and they’re not in a safe haven like they think they are.

FOX411: Some of the statistics from the film are quite surprising. What was your reaction to them?

Pavlich: Professor Eric Dietz is a professor at Purdue University, we take a look at his research and he looks at the response time in terms of when an incident occurs and how the incident stops. They take a look at what happens in between the seconds that go on versus the minutes that go on, and how long that’s going to take, and really what we found and what he has found through his research and other experts in the film have said: “Look, the faster you are to reaction, or the closer you are to a crime, the faster you can stop it.”  So, that brings up the question if you don’t have something to stop someone who is in a gun-free zone, how long is it going to take and how much damage are they going to be able to do inside that gun-free zone?

FOX411: What do you hope the audience takes away from the documentary?

Pavlich: We really hope at Outdoor Channel to give people a different perspective on the gun control debate. We’ve talked about gun control for a very long time in this countr,y but we haven’t taken a very serious, critical look at gun-free zones where the vast majority ... of the incidents do occur, and I do think it’s time from a public policy perspective to really get people to start thinking about are these gun-free zone policies really keeping me safe and putting me into a safe haven when I decide to walk into that school that has a gun-free sign or a business. Really to get people to think, especially people in the middle, who maybe don’t have an opinion either way on the debate. We address both sides of this issue.

“Safe Haven” premieres on Wednesday, April 1 on Outdoor Channel.