Washington, June 26 (Reuters): For the first time in US history, the supreme court ruled today that individual Americans have the right to own guns for personal use, and struck down a strict gun control law in the US capital.

The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the country’s high court has addressed whether the Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, rather than a right tied to service in a state militia.

In the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia said the Second Amendment protected an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defence within the home. Although an individual now has a constitutional right to own guns, that new right is not unlimited.