....including accidentally taking handgun ammunition through security ...
The last time I was at PHX, I sat next to a lady who was with her 15 year old daughter, and 17 year old son. Nobody looked very happy, especially the son. He was clearly in a lot of trouble with his Mom. We were all there to drop off our underage children (my 9 year old and her 15 year old), so Junior, the Mom, and me were all stuck waiting for the plane to actually take off. You aren't allowed to leave until they do.
After I talked to them a little, she (the Mom) told me their tale of woe.
Evidently Junior thought it would be funny to stash "a bullet" (her word) in Sis's backpack for TSA to find. It worked. To use his words, TSA "Totally flipped out".
She told me she was detained, questioned and harrassed by TSA over this bullet for nearly an hour. I asked if she still had it, and if I could see it. I'm kind of surprised they let her keep it after all of that, but they did.
It was, in fact, just a bullet. Not a round. Not live ammo. No explosives whatsoever. Just a small pointy piece of metal. That's it.
What possible damage could that thing have caused? FOD? What was she going to do? Wind up and throw it at somebody?
Can't there be just a little sense and proportion applied to this process?