WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court says Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the court's first major pronouncement on gun rights.

The 5-4 ruling strikes down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision goes further than even the Bush administration wanted, and likely leaves most firearms laws intact.

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.

Writing for the majority, Hon. Antonin Scalia said that the right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.