(CNN) Mary Ann Jacob, a survivor of the 2012 school shooting in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, said she's a Republican and gun owner, and she can't believe we're still having the same conversation about guns six years later.

As Americans process last weekend's mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton , CNN held a town hall on gun violence Wednesday night with survivors of shootings, politicians and others. The National Rifle Association (NRA) declined to participate in CNN's town hall.

Samuel Granillo

The exhaustion was palpable in the words of survivors of different age groups and political affiliations. Several remarked on how many shootings there had been since the one that changed their lives, and expressed disbelief that more hadn't been done.

Columbine High School shooting survivor Samuel Granillo said not much is different today than it was 20 years ago. He said he believes the key to progress is finding common ground.

"We all have families, we all have friends, loved ones, we all want to be loved," he said. "We all want to give love and what makes -- what that makes us all is human."