Editing Erfurt school massacre (section)

== Reactions ==
[[Image:Gutenberg-gymnasium-erfurt september 2005 005.jpg|thumb|225px|right|A memorial plaque for the victims of the shooting]]
Steinhäuser's family issued a statement to news sources saying that they "will forever be sorry that our son and brother has brought such horrifying suffering to the victims and their relatives, the people of Erfurt and Thuringia, and all over Germany."<ref>{{Cite news |date=2002-05-02 |title=Family of German killer apologises |language=en-US |work=[[CNN]] |publisher= |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/05/02/germany.massacre/index.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2008-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027081400/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/05/02/germany.massacre/index.html |archive-date=2007-10-27}}</ref>

In 2004, after repeated public criticisms of the police response to the shooting, the state government of Thuringia tasked a committee to release a final report on the shooting.<ref name="KommissionGutenberg-Gymnasium2019">{{Cite report |url=https://www.thueringen.de/de/publikationen/pic/pubdownload1488.pdf |title=Bericht der Kommission Gutenberg-Gymnasium |trans-title=Report from the Gutenberg-Gymnasium Commission |date=2004-04-19 |publisher=[[Freistaat Thüringen]] |language=de |access-date=2019-08-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820185852/http://thueringen.de/de/publikationen/pic/pubdownload1488.pdf |archive-date=2014-08-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The state government of Thuringia reprimanded the principal of the school for the expulsion of Steinhäuser, saying she had overstepped her legal powers and violated the rules of the procedure. There were no further legal consequences for the principal and she remains in charge of the school as of 2017.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-04-20 |title=15 Jahre danach: Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt: Was der Amoklauf verändert hat |trans-title=15 years later: Gutenberg High School in Erfurt: What the rampage changed |url=https://www.shz.de/deutschland-welt/politik/gutenberg-gymnasium-in-erfurt-was-der-amoklauf-veraendert-hat-id16621501.html |access-date=2021-04-09 |website=[[Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag|sh:z]] |language=de}}</ref>

Likewise, the Thuringian education law was caught in the crossfire of criticism. Since Steinhäuser was already an adult, the school administration was not required to inform his parents about their son's expulsion from school. In contrast to most other German states at this time, the state of Thuringia did not automatically award the [[Mittlere Reife|middle school certificate]] at the end of the 10th grade. Students who did not pass the [[Abitur|final exams]] therefore did not have a school certificate, which left them with limited job prospects.<ref name="TheLocalGermany2017" /> In response to the shooting, a law was enacted that would give high school students the option to take an exam at the end of the 10th grade at their own request. Since 2004, this exam has been mandatory for all Thuringian high school students.<ref name="n-tv2017">{{Cite news |last=Sierpinski |first=Diana |date=2017-04-26 |title=15 Jahre nach dem Schulmassaker: Was seit dem Amoklauf von Erfurt anders ist |language=de |trans-title=15 years after the school massacre: What has changed since the Erfurt rampage |work=[[n-tv]] |url=https://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Was-seit-dem-Amoklauf-von-Erfurt-anders-ist-article19799208.html |access-date=2021-04-09}}</ref>

The shooting also led to public discussions on the effect of violence in media and its effect on the youth, especially in relation to computer games of the first-person shooter genre, so-called killer games and dealing with fictional violence in other media. According to the report of the Gutenberg Commission, Steinhäuser had some violent movies such as ''[[Fight Club]]'', ''[[Predator (film)|Predator]]'' and ''[[Desperado (film)|Desperado]]'', as well as the video games ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'', ''[[Hitman: Codename 47]]'' and ''[[Half-Life (video game)|Half-Life]]''. Steinhäuser was apparently not interested in the game ''[[Counter-Strike (video game)|Counter-Strike]]'', which was often mentioned in connection with the shooting by the media. The discussions contributed to a revision of the [[Protection of Young Persons Act (Germany)|Protection of Young Persons Act]] and helped to strengthen the rules for these legal areas.<ref name="n-tv2017" />

In addition to the reform of the Protection of Young Persons Act, gun laws were tightened. The legal minimum age for those who wanted to join a shooting club was raised from 18 to 21 years and anyone under 25 years wishing to handle firearms was now required to undergo a medical-psychological examination.<ref name="TheLocalGermany2017" /> Pump-action firearms were banned altogether. Furthermore, the retention requirements for firearms and ammunition were significantly tightened.