What other countries show us about America's gun violence epidemic

What looking to other countries shows us about the United States' gun violence epidemic

This report is a part of "Rethinking Gun Violence," an ABC News series examining the level of gun violence in the U.S. -- and what can be done about it.

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

"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. Not surprisingly, we have huge gun problems," David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, told ABC News. "I think if we had basically the gun laws of any other developed country, we'd be better off."

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. 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.