Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says he will pay a fine after being arrested with a loaded handgun in his briefcase as he went through an airport security checkpoint.

Barbour -- Republican National Committee chairman in the mid-1990s and governor from 2004-12 -- tells The Associated Press on Wednesday he was trying to board a flight Jan. 2 from Jackson to Washington. He said he forgot he was carrying the gun, which he had put in his briefcase after an assistant removed it from his car days earlier.

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein says a TSA officer at a checkpoint X-ray machine spotted a .38 caliber revolver, loaded with five bullets, in a carry-on bag. TSA contacted airport police, who arrested the former governor.

The fine begins at $3,920