By a 51-43 vote, the Senate has confirmed Obama nominee Vivek Murthy for the post of America's surgeon general. Democratic Senators Donnelly, Heitkamp and Manchin crossed party lines to vote against him; Republican Sen. Mark Kirk voted for him.
Murthy had waited over a year for the vote to take place, due almost entirely to opposition from the NRA. Murthy had called gun violence "an important public health issue," which is both a truism and utterly forbidden language.
3:41 PM PT: Obama's statement on the confirmation can be found here.