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If the United States had the same rate of gun deaths as Canada, fewer than 8,000 Americans would have died from gunshots last year. If we had the same rate as Germany, about 3,000 would have died. And if we had the same rate as Britain, only about 1,000 Americans would have died.

Instead, almost 40,000 Americans died from guns last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported recently. Last year’s rate was the highest in more than 20 years.

The new data is a reminder that the United States doesn’t take public health — which is to say, the lives of its citizens — as seriously as almost any other affluent country. And that hasn’t always been the case.