There are developing countries with higher rates of firearm deaths than the U.S., though comparing gun violence among peers helps to control for other factors, Hemenway said. with other developed countries, especially after yet another horrific mass shooting. Revolvers are displayed for sale at a gun store in Oceanside, Calif., April 12, 2021.

The implementation of new gun restrictions has also been associated with a drop in firearm deaths, a 2016 review of 130 studies across 10 countries found. It's unclear if gun prevalence definitively impacts gun violence, though research by Hemenway's center has found links between a large number of guns and more firearm homicides, suicides and accidents. 'I think if we had basically the gun laws of any other developed country, we'd be better off.' Not surprisingly, we have huge gun problems,' David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, told ABC News. 'Compared to the other peer countries, basically what we have is lots and lots of guns, particularly handguns, and we have by far the weakest gun laws. Mass shootings, an all-too-common occurrence in the U.S., are also exceedingly rare in peer countries - where governments have often been quick to pass gun reform in the wake of such tragedies.

The nation that by one estimate has more guns than people has the highest rate of firearm deaths compared with other high-income countries. The United States has a gun violence epidemic, and it's not one shared by its peers.

Dead island epidemic