Later this summer, a group of students will march from Worcester to Springfield to ask one of the nation's largest gunmakers to stop "colluding" with the National Rifle Association and putting gun rights and profits before public safety - especially the safety of American schoolchildren, who are frequently the targets of mass shootings.

Since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, more than 187,000 students at almost 200 primary or secondary schools in the U.S. have experienced a shooting on campus during school hours, according to a recent analysis by the Washington Post.

A total of 26 students have been killed in school shootings across the country this year so far, or double the number of U.S. military personnel killed in combat since Jan. 1.

On Aug. 26, a group of student protesters is expected to gather outside the Springfield headquarters of Smith & Wesson, the nation's third-largest gun manufacturer, to ask the company to donate $1 million to youth violence prevention initiatives and stop putting profits before people.

The "50 Miles More" march, a multiday and multicommunity protest, is expected to leave Worcester on Aug. 22 and arrive in Springfield four days later, according to Aileen Berquist, adviser and public relations manager for 50 Miles More. Partners in the protest include March On, March for Our Lives Boston and Stop Handgun Violence, among other groups.

Along the way, marchers will pass through communities with residents who are supporters and opponents of gun control -- one of the many polarizing us-and-them issues that points to the increasingly heated nature of political discourse in America.

In Wilbraham, a conservative suburb of Springfield where Republicans dominate most local boards, Selectman Robert J. Boilard says he does not support the marchers' message, but he does support their right to march. Boilard, one of many elected GOP officials in town, and his colleagues on the Board of Selectmen recently voted to approve the group's request to march through town.

But many others in Wilbraham, which tends to vote Republican in national and local elections despite having more residents who are registered Democrats than registered Republicans, are voicing opposition to the march, claiming it's wrongheaded, misguided and exploitative to use kids as pawns in a gun control debate best left to adults.

"I hope my tax dollars are not paying for their State Police escort," said Janet Shea, a nurse at Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, where some students have participated in protests to show solidarity with the victims of recent school shootings in Parkland, Florida, and elsewhere across the country.

Shea made the comment in a post on the "Bob Boilard - Selectman" Facebook page, a popular online forum in Wilbraham. The names of the group's members and their posts are public, but only members can comment on the page.

Jim Rooney, a member of the town's Planning Board, called the student protesters "little Trotskys," a reference to Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary, theorist, and Soviet politician who founded the Red Army and served as commissar for foreign affairs.

"Let 'em walk. They mean nothing," Rooney said on Boilard's page. "Their opinions only matter because their parents and the school system told them they're 'special.' Big whoop."

Marching to demand money from a local manufacturer is ridiculous, according to Jodie Swain, of Wilbraham.

"Asking for money isn't going to help people who are mentally ill," she said, pointing out that people die in distracted-driving crashes, yet only the gun issue seems to wind up in protesters' crosshairs.

"While I could come armed, I would not," Swain said. "I plan to carry signs which ask why they are not demanding money from car manufacturers and cell phone companies."

Michael W. Dane, a supporter of conservative causes and a frequent critic of the administration and school board that runs the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District, offered a common shibboleth of the pro-Second Amendment movement: Guns don't kill people; people kill people.

"Too bad that children are being brainwashed into believing that an inanimate object is a threat to their lives," said Dane. "These children will be escorted by men with guns wearing armor, as well. Why is this allowed?"

A police escort is expected to accompany protesters as they set out on their late-August march from Worcester to Springfield.

"Bump stocks (are) already banned in this Communist-run state," Joshua Long said on Boilard's Facebook page. "This group (50 Miles More) needs to get with the program. Next thing you know, they are going to want squirt guns banned."

Earlier this year, Massachusetts became the first state to ban bump stocks -- devices that speed up gunfire, essentially turning semiautomatic weapons into automatic weapons -- after 58 people were killed and many more were injured in an Oct.1, 2017, mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival.

When the marchers arrive at Smith & Wesson, "Constitutionalists should be right there to meet them, expose them and educate the ones you can," said Ware resident Dave Kopacz, founder of Red Pill Politics, "an independent media effort based in Massachusetts," according to the group's Facebook page.

Counter-protesters should also tell Smith & Wesson to reject the protesters' "commie nonsense" and focus on making guns, according to Kopacz.

"I think it's a huge mistake to simply let them march through the state philosophically unchallenged. I'm not saying we should ban their free speech the way they want to ban our guns; I'm saying we should have huge numbers of 2A supporters at every single location they stop," said Kopacz, referring to the Second Amendment right to "bear arms."

Even Boilard got in on the discussion.

"I want to know where the march is for mental health programs, anti-bullying ... better parenting," he said. "How about even for these violent video games."

Blaming Smith & Wesson or any other manufacturer is wrong, according to Boilard, because guns cannot pull their own triggers.

"As I said before, it starts with the person in the mirror and good parenting," he said.

Kevin Murray, a member of the Wilbraham Finance Committee and owner of Murray Tax Service, says he "can't wait to see them march on Cane Hill Road," referring to a typo on a flyer advertising the August march. The correct name of the Wilbraham street is "Crane Hill Road."

According to the 50 Miles More flyer, a copy of which was posted to Boilard's Facebook page, marchers plan to take a detour onto Crane Hill Road before continuing back onto Boston Road and onward to neighboring Springfield.

When the marchers reach Smith & Wesson headquarters on Roosevelt Avenue in East Springfield, they intend to ask the gun company to donate $1 million to a youth prevention violence program of the protest group's choice.

"Smith & Wesson colludes with the NRA and other groups to protect the rights of murder weapons, while ignoring the people's right to live," the flyer states.

A Smith & Wesson spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Even though Wilbraham has more registered Democrats than registered Republicans -- 2,755 Democrats to 2,066 Republicans as of Feb. 1, 2017, the most recent year for which data were available, according to the Elections Division of Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office -- the town has a Republican ethos, according to Linda Dagradi, chairwoman of the Wilbraham Town Democratic Committee.

"There are more registered Democrats than Republicans in town, but this is a Republican town," Dagradi was quoted as saying in the Wilbraham-Hampden Times in April, a weekly newspaper based in Wilbraham.