The reckless discharge of a firearm charge related to an incident a week earlier in which Bright got into a fight with another man at Phillip Bright's property, the police summary of facts says.
Phillip Bright told his brother to go home but he returned with a loaded rifle.
He confronted the man he had been fighting with and said: "Are you f***ing with me you Australian bastard?''
After a tussle the gun went off.
Crown prosecutor Nick Webby said had it not been for about 50cm there could have been another fatality.
Mr Webby said police had considered laying more serious charges during the course of their prolonged investigation.
Judge Russell Callander accepted that the police would have seriously considered this but he nonetheless found the circumstances of the shooting "very disturbing''.
"I think you were probably fortunate in the way the police investigation ended,'' he told Bright.
And even on the two charges that were ultimately laid, Bright would have been sent to prison had it not been for some recent Court of Appeal decisions which encouraged sentences of home detention for such offending.
Bright's lawyer Baden Meyer was adamant that the shooting was not a result of the argument.
The brothers argued a lot and, as happens in many families, the arguments could become quite heated.
Mr Meyer said any sentence the court imposed would not be as serious as what Bright had already suffered as a result of his actions.
"This was a tragic accident for which Mr Bright suffers deeply.''
It had also caused his family a great deal of pain and they did not want him to be imprisoned.
Mr Meyer read out part of a letter from Bright's mother which said: "I don't want him to go to prison, I've lost one son, I don't want to lose the other one.''
Bright accepted that he had a problem with alcohol and had not touched a drop since the incident.
Judge Callander said the shooting was ultimately caused by "a lethal combination of the firearm and the alcohol''.
"Everyone understands, I would have hoped, that firearms and alcohol should never mix. You know that now, you've learned that the hard way, but I need to get the message out into the community,'' he said.`
Anger was another aggravating factor in the case.
"With a degree of reluctance'' he accepted the lawyers' submissions that a sentence of home detention was appropriate.
He further ordered Bright to undertake rehabilitation for alcohol after surmising that he had had "a major drinking problem for many years''.
Judge Callander urged Bright to "try and be positive with your life and try to put back into your family some of the things they lost as a result of the death of your brother''.
Speaking outside court, Mr Meyer said he accepted that a sentence of imprisonment for his client had been a real possibility but he felt home detention was appropriate given the circumstances.
The family now wanted to move on with their lives, he said.
"It was a tragic accident and the family have been dealing with this for a long time.''
