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Outsiders are also perplexed to see that you鈥檝e done so little to grant your citizens a basic human right 鈥� the freedom to live without fear of death by gunshot.

Historically, there鈥檚 little mystery as to how it began. The early laws of each European empire relied on two pillars of gun safety: Firearm owners were obliged to apply for a license and then to register each firearm, just as we do with cars. Because these restrictions were copied to hundreds of colonies,听聽now rely on universal licensing and registration to regulate firearms. Except America.

Even as America rejected British rule and charted its own brave course, your Founding Fathers and settlers often did more to control firearms than you do today. In聽, Kan.;聽, Ariz.; New York; and Chicago 鈥� to name just a few 鈥� stringent gun controls were commonly imposed.

But since then, interest groups have bullied politicians into allowing unlicensed, unquantified gun ownership. The United States is聽聽with its Second Amendment and almost alone in regulating聽听补苍诲听聽with such laxity.

Today, the Congressional Research Service estimates that U.S. residents collectively own聽. That鈥檚 just a guess, and it鈥檚聽. But here lies the problem: You can鈥檛 even gauge the details of America鈥檚 30,000-deaths-a-year epidemic of gun violence, let alone work out how best to save lives, while the gun lobby in Congress systematically聽.

Most developed countries have already moved to reduce gun-fueled mayhem. ,听听补苍诲听聽all mounted massive national gun buybacks to reduce the availability of firearms. The world鈥檚 largest occurred in聽, where聽聽鈥� one-third of the nation鈥檚 private arsenal 鈥� were destroyed after聽a聽聽that聽claimed 100 lives.

Despite a subsequent聽that has replaced confiscated semi-automatic weapons with new single-shot long guns, the per-capita rate of firearm ownership remains 23 percent聽聽20 years ago.

The risk of dying by gunshot in Australia聽, and stayed there. Research found聽聽to other weapons or means of violent death.

When presidential candidate Hillary Clinton聽聽that Australia鈥檚 gun safety measures are 鈥�,鈥� was she suggesting the unthinkable 鈥� gun confiscation in the United States? 鈥�,鈥� her spokeswoman swiftly said.

But that鈥檚 disingenuous. When a government bans a particularly dangerous type of firearm, then offers to buy those guns under threat of prosecution, that is of course confiscation and destruction of private property.

Yet John Howard, Australia鈥檚 most conservative prime minister in decades, was just one leader of a large democracy who聽. Australia鈥檚 10-year spate of public mass shootings came to a sudden stop, and in almost two decades, we haven鈥檛 suffered another.

To public health practitioners, the gun is to gun violence as the mosquito is to malaria. Break the chain of causation, and the disease begins to retreat.

But when guns proliferate, a harm agent designed to kill drives an infectious disease fueled by fear and profit. The more Americans die by gunshot, the.

厂耻肠肠别蝉蝉颈惫别听聽have rightly described America鈥檚 scourge of聽聽each year as an 鈥溾�� and a 鈥�.鈥� Yet the number of U.S. researchers dedicated to this field across all academic disciplines is聽. Each year, Congress聽聽to ensure that this remains the case.

All this from a great nation that has led the world in public health interventions to save millions of lives. Both cars and guns are symbols of freedom and masculinity, yet Americans slashed road deaths by applying a holistic suite of public safety measures. You saved countless billions of taxpayer dollars by reducing the health cost of tobacco-related disease and HIV/AIDS.

As with guns, these public safety measures faced intense initial opposition, fueled by personal views on morality, religion, individual freedom and dislike of government. One day, as more and more Americans die, you鈥檒l be left with little option but to bite the bullet and curb gun deaths by following the evidence.

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This article was first published in .

Associate Professor聽is founding director of聽, a global project of the University of Sydney鈥檚聽 that聽compares armed violence, firearm injury prevention and gun law across 350 jurisdictions worldwide.