WASHINGTON (AP):

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Americans have a constitutional right to keep guns in their homes for self-defence, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun control in U.S. history.

The court's 5-4 ruling struck down Washington's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms restrictions intact.

Increasing concern

The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

The issue of gun rights has taken on increased prominence in the US after a number of mass killings over the past few years. On Wednesday, a man shot dead five co-workers at a plant in Kentucky before turning the gun on himself.