Swallowing Stones’s main conflict comes from the mishandling of a firearm by a teenage boy. The novel’s willingness to engage with themes of responsible gun ownership—even though it does not dwell heavily on this aspect—gives the novel a political charge that only grows stronger as the cultural climate surrounding gun ownership in the United States becomes more tumultuous and turbulent.

Part of what makes guns such a significant cultural icon to Americans is the historical context of the founding of the United States. During the Revolutionary War, groups of colonists assembled into militias to fight for freedom from British rule. These colonists had access to rifles and muskets, which aided in their eventual victory over the British soldiers. Guns were so significantly tied to the idea of freedom in Revolutionary America that the Founding Fathers wrote every American’s right to bear arms into the second amendment of the Bill of Rights. Since America’s inception, guns have been a means of protecting and ensuring freedom.

In Swallowing Stones, it’s no coincidence that it’s July 4, America’s Independence Day, when Michael fires his Winchester rifle into the air, deploying the bullet that moments later comes down to kill Charlie Ward.