A 19-year-old in Erfurt returned to the school that he'd been expelled from a few weeks ago and killed 17 (mostly teachers) and then himself. Read about it here.

As a teacher myself I always find things like this so upsetting. Schools can never be totally enclosed places and there is always the possibility of someone getting in and doing something awful. It's difficult to strike a balance between having school as an open welcoming place for students and families, and a safe, secure environment.

At the school I work in it would have to end up looking like a prison before it could be totally safe and secure, and nobody would want to teach or be taught there then. So I guess we just have to carry on as we are and pray that something as dreadful as this story doesn't happen to us.

A terrible tragedy, and all too reminiscent of the school shootings which have occurred in this country. One wonders how much of a copy-cat effect those incidents might have provoked.

What sort of gun control laws do they have in Germany?

I just watched our channel that is a cooperative German French station located near Strasbourg and I have a friend who translates for them.

Their gun control laws are very very strict, and this seems to be a fluke. The guy tried to pass the secondary school exams twice and failed them and was expelled and today was the exams for this year and he went in and shot every teacher in each classroom as he went through the corridors.

Their gun control laws are being tightened up even. As of now, if you even get some kind of moving violation in your car, you might get your gun permit revoked.

The kids interviewed said he was all dressed in black and they could only see his eyes.

The most poignant thing was the teachers with a sign saying "hilfe" or help on it.