Bill Baarsma was a mayor of Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

. He was elected mayor in 2002 and served until 2009. Prior to his election, he taught business and public administration at the University of Puget Sound

University of Puget Sound

The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college located in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, in the United States...

. He served on the Tacoma City Council

Tacoma City Council

The Tacoma City Council is the major governing body in the city of Tacoma, Washington. The City Council has one mayor and 8 council members, who are elected for 4 year terms...

 from 1992 to 1999. He has also served on two Tacoma charter review commissions, and the city's 1980 redistricting committee. He has a bachelor's degree in political science, a master's degree in government, and a doctorate in public administration. He lives in the North End with his wife, Carol.

He was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition

Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a coalition of over 600 mayors who support a number of gun control initiatives that the group calls "commonsense reforms" to fight illegal gun trafficking and gun violence in the United States...

, a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 Mayor Thomas Menino

Thomas Menino

Thomas Michael "Tom" Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor...

 and New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg

Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...

.