I think classifying 'gun violence' (what is that, exactly?) as a public health issue is a huge red herring. It allows the government, who will soon be our health care insurer, to weigh and investigate gun ownership in the light of 'health' costs, rather than the appropriate measures of liberty, personal freedom and individual responsibility.
With Obamacare rolling pell mell over many lives (including my family, I might add), a surgeon general might well have an expanded role in deciding what to oppose in the name of societal expense.
I've mentioned before that letting your insurance company write law (which is what governmental health care devolves into) is an invitation to limit gun ownership, real butter, motorcycles, fast cars, and sky-diving. Whenever you open yourself to being judged not just on the correctness and legality of your behavior, but the 'health costs' associated with it, you've begun a long, slippery slide into governmental control of every aspect of your life.
Larry