The Kansas Republican Party Thursday cheered a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that affirms, for the first time in the nation’s history, the right of individuals to keep and bear arms.

Gun control advocates have long maintained that the Second Amendment applies only to organized militias, and not to individuals. The 5-4 ruling emanated from a case in which a citizen of Washington, D.C. challenged the District’s handgun ban.

"This decision confirms what I have long believed, in my years of research as a professor of Constitutional law: that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms held by all law-abiding adult citizens, that the D.C. ban on handguns is unconstitutional, and that requiring people to keep their guns in the home disabled is also unconstitutional," said Kansas GOP Chair Kris Kobach.

Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, also a Republican, said the ruling demonstrated that the Supreme Court trusts the American people to safely and responsibly handle handguns.

“The beauty and wisdom of our constitution is the great faith it places in the American people," Kline said.

The National Rifle Association also applauded the Supreme Court action.

Rachel Parsons, a spokesperson for the group, called the decision nothing less than “monumental.”

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called it a great moment in American history.

“Our founding fathers wrote and intended the Second Amendment to be an individual right," he said. "The Supreme Court has now acknowledged it. The Second Amendment as an individual right now becomes a real permanent part of American Constitutional law.”

Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, seized the opportunity to draw distinctions between Republicans and Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama on the gun issue.

"Obama is on record stating, `I don't believe people should be able to own guns.' This is another example of how Obama is an out-of-touch liberal and is working for change we don't believe in. I am confident that when Kansans head to the polls in November they will not fall for his empty rhetoric and left-wing policy positions. Instead, they will choose a leader who understands our fundamental Constitutional rights and is ready to lead from day one, John McCain."

But not everyone welcomed the decision. Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center and Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said while the ruling affirmed the individual's right to bear arms, it does not affect the government’s ability to adapt gun control measures.

“Our fight to enact sensible gun laws will be undiminished by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Heller case,” Helmke said in a written statement.

“While we disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling, which strips the citizens of the District of Columbia of a law they strongly support, the decision clearly suggests that other gun laws are entirely consistent with the Constitution," he said

Helmke feared that the ruling could spur challenges to gun control measures by gun rights advocates.

“The Heller decision will most likely embolden criminal defendants and ideological extremists to file new legal attacks on existing gun laws,” he said. “With the help of the Brady Center’s legal team, those attacks can, and must, be successfully resisted in the interest of public safety.”