A 57-year-old resident of the Tetovo village of Zhilche was detained after firing a gun in the yard of a weekend house. Police took him into custody at 23:40.

Four people were found in the yard. Two pistols and a large quantity of ammunition were found on the detained man, and police recorded traces of gunfire. During the check, his blood alcohol level was measured at 1.63 per mille.

Three elements in one sentence: a drunk man, two pistols and four people in the same yard. That the night ended with a police report rather than something heavier is a matter of centimetres, not of any system.

The weapons, of course, did not appear that evening. The two pistols and the ammunition had been somewhere in that house before - legally or not, the proceedings will establish that. What is not in question is whether the owner was in any condition to be holding them. At 1.63 per mille you do not operate a car, let alone a firearm.

The case is not isolated. Within the same day, police in Tetovo and Gostivar logged several more reports of physical assaults, including one of an armed threat in the village of Zhelino, where according to the report a person arrived holding a knife, then drew and cocked a pistol and aimed it at another man.

In all cases police are taking measures to clarify the incidents and announcing the appropriate charges. That is good and that is their job.

The question that stays open is the earlier stage - the one before the report. A weapon pulled out in a yard, on a street, in an argument. Each of these cases has the same opening scene and a different ending, and the difference between a police report and a funeral is a very thin margin of luck.