‘Security’ is oftimes a very esoteric concept, something all of us in trucking know is necessary on some level. Yet security also brings with it big costs in terms of dollars, loss of productivity, etc. We’re wasting time standing in line, getting IDSs checked, loads verified, etc., etc., and countless other etc’s added on for good measure. It’s a concept many of us, I suspect, feel we don’t need too much of because of that old bromide ‘It can’t happen here.’

Until it does.

It’s hitting home for me today — I’m a graduate of Virginia Tech, and me and thousands upon thousands of other fellow Hokies like me are trying to fathom how some nutjob could kill over 30 people on our beloved campus. Someone — a crazed student or some other demented individual — has put Tech atop the record books for the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. It’s a horror show I still can’t believe is happening.

Now, sure, this is a college campus, not a loading dock or a border crossing. The security footprint in much easier to establish and maintain at the latter points. But this rampage shows just how much damage one person with a handgun — just one — can cause. One person armed with explosives, or hijacking a truck with explosoive material, can cause even greater horror than what happened in Blacksburg today.

It also shows that nothing and nowhere is safe — not the malls, not the schools, and definitely not the highways. It’s a reality we must all come to grips with one way or another.