RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday urged North Carolina lawmakers to tighten the state’s gun controls in response to the mass shooting Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

“Our despair is deep for the Robb Elementary School children and their families. We’ve seen it too many times,” Cooper said in a video on YouTube.

Cooper joins a growing number of elected officials urging action in response to the attack, in which 19 children, two adults and the 18-year-old gunman were killed.

A pair of background-check bills for gun buyers were set in motion Wednesday by the U.S. Senate majority leader, a Democrat, and Republicans advanced a proposal to set up a nationwide database of school safety practices.

The shooter, Salvador Ramos, announced on Facebook his intention to attack an elementary school about half an hour before the shooting rampage began, The Associated Press reported. Ramos used an AR-15-style rifle that he bought days before the attack, law enforcement officials told state lawmakers.

Related: How to talk to your kids about the mass shooting in Texas

Cooper urged state lawmakers to close what he called permit loopholes for assault weapons and to enact a “red flag” law, which he proposed in 2019. A red flag law enables a court to temporarily confiscate guns from those deemed to pose a danger to themselves or others.

The governor said expanding Medicaid would provide billions of dollars for mental health.

Republicans in the state Senate on Wednesday reversed years-long opposition to Medicaid expansion and filed a measure that would extend health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of more recipients.