Wilson Urges Stiff Action on Felons : Crime: The governor calls on legislators to adopt measure giving life sentences to three-time offenders. But he opposes the proposed banning of handguns.

Gov. Pete Wilson called Wednesday for urgent action in a special legislative session to combat crime but he said he will oppose banning handguns because law-abiding Californians need firearms to protect themselves.

The Republican governor said legislators should quickly adopt measures to give life sentences to criminals convicted of three violent felonies--eliminating the need for the “three strikes and you’re out” voter initiative that is apparently headed for the November ballot.

Wilson also wants the Legislature to curtail credits that enable inmates to cut their sentences in half if they are well behaved and work while in prison.

And he repeated his recent call for life terms for first-time rapists, child molesters and some arsonists, whom he said are all but certain to commit their crimes again if they are released from prison.

Wilson, speaking at a Capitol news conference, also took shots at his potential opponents in next year’s election campaign, each of whom have also sought to claim the anti-crime vote for themselves in recent weeks.

The governor acknowledged that his measures would be expensive, adding to the cost of a prison system that already is the fastest-growing state program. Aides said later that the bills would eventually cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually. But Wilson said the investment would be worth it if the result is decreased crime--an assumption that some criminal justice experts dispute.

“Is adequate public safety an expensive proposition? The answer is yes,” Wilson said. “But it is not nearly as expensive as failing to provide it.”

The emergency session Wilson called will begin Jan. 3 and run alongside the Legislature’s regular session, which is set to resume Monday after a four-month recess.

Bills introduced in the special session can be considered sooner and, if passed, would take effect in 90 days rather than at the beginning of 1995.

In response to questions, Wilson noted that he has supported training sessions for gun owners and restrictions on military-style semiautomatic weapons. He said he would support further limits on so-called assault guns and large-capacity ammunition magazines.

But Wilson said he will strenuously oppose a bill that Democratic Assemblyman Terry Friedman (D-Brentwood) has proposed that would ban all handguns.

“There are any number of people, single women, single mothers, for that matter anybody in a normal family, who is entitled to defend him or herself or their families by owning a handgun,” Wilson said. “A ban that would prohibit them from doing so I think would be a terrible mistake.”

Wilson has made fighting crime a central feature in many of his political campaigns dating back more than a decade to his days as mayor of San Diego. He said he welcomed what he called the newfound enthusiasm for the subject from other politicians, including the two Democrats who are expected to compete for the party’s gubernatorial nomination next year.

“People who have never opened their mouths on this subject before suddenly are doing so and are giving full-throated cries to (fight) violent crime. Wonderful,” he said.

But Wilson had some cross words for Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, who, along with state Treasurer Kathleen Brown, is expected to run for governor in 1994. On Tuesday, Garamendi proposed an anti-crime legislative program and questioned Wilson’s leadership on the issue.

The governor said Garamendi had failed in 16 years as a legislator to do anything about the issue. Garamendi, Wilson said, should “get off his duff and persuade some of his friends in the Legislature, if he has any, to--however belatedly--support the kind of changes he is now espousing for the first time in his career.”

Wilson also assailed the state Coastal Commission for telling cities that local beach curfews are illegal under the state Coastal Act. Wilson, as an assemblyman more than 20 years ago, helped shape the act, which was adopted by voters in 1972.

“That attempted exercise of authority by the Coastal Commission totally exceeds their legal authority,” Wilson said. “It’s ridiculous and outrageous.”