ERFURT, Germany ÷ Classrooms across Germany fell silent yesterday to reflect on last weekâs school massacre that left 17 people dead, and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder proposed tighter gun control laws that include raising the legal age for ownership.

In Erfurt, students and teachers from the Johann Gutenberg Gymnasium began the day in front of their school, then headed to the nearby city hall for sessions with counselors and teachers. Younger children clutched their parentsâ hands and older students embraced tearfully before a sea of flowers cascading from the front steps of the school.

ăI was there and saw everything ÷ a horrible sight,ä said a crying Denise Hoffman, 15. ăBut I want to stay in this school!ä

On Friday, 19-year-old former student Robert Steinhaeuser sneaked into the Gutenberg school with a 9 mm pistol, donned black clothes and a mask, and fatally shot 13 teachers, two teen-age students and a policeman before killing himself.

In Berlin, Schroeder called for tightening gun laws, including raising the legal age for owning weapons from 18 to 21 and preventing people from inheriting weapons they are not qualified to carry. Schroeder said he planned to meet state governors this week to discuss the topic.

Yesterday at 11:05 a.m. ÷ the time Erfurt police received a call from the school janitor saying someone was shooting ÷ Germans in classrooms and public buildings across the country paused in a moment of silence to honor the victims. Citizens of Erfurt huddled under umbrellas as the city came to a virtual halt.

Meanwhile, red-eyed students and pensioners clutching handkerchiefs stood in a driving rain and raw wind outside city hall, waiting to sign condolence books. Nine books have already been filled.

A memorial service for the victims will be held Friday in Erfurt, while burials are expected to be private.

Officials said Steinhaeuser ÷ a gun-club member licensed to own weapons ÷ was bent on killing teachers out of rage at being expelled a few weeks earlier, a humiliation that denied him a chance at university entrance exams. He was expelled after being accused of forging a doctorâs note.

Erfurt Police Chief Rainer Grube said witnesses confirmed that Steinhaeuser burst into some classrooms but left if he saw no teachers. The two teen-age victims, a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, were killed when Steinhaeuser fired through a classroom door locked from the inside by terrified students.