Campbell has been in and out of jail for 20 years since first being imprisoned as a 17-year-old.
In 2010, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for the $156,000 aggravated robbery of two Armourguard security officers outside an ANZ Bank in Hastings.
Judge Bridget Mackintosh made reference to that "serious previous conviction involving a firearm" when she sentenced Campbell in the Napier District Court on Friday on five charges of unlawfully possessing firearms.
Those firearms – two rifles, two shotguns and a sawn-off rifle – were found by police in a bivouac in the bush behind Campbell's mother's house at Tuai in the Wairoa District in February last year.
Four of the weapons – the rifles and shotguns – had earlier been stolen from the home of 72-year-old Havelock North man Craig Person.
Person was badly beaten with a hammer and suffered a fractured skull and a brain bleed when two men broke into his house and took his firearms on the night of January 21, 2021.
Campbell was charged with the aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary of Person but, after a five-day trial, was found not guilty by a jury last month.
During the trial a prison cellmate of Campbell appeared in court via video link and said he carried out the attack.
While Campbell, representing himself, convinced the jury of his innocence regarding the robbery, after deliberating for six and a half hours they found him guilty of possessing the firearms.
On Friday, Judge Mackintosh told Campbell that "you and firearms are quite a dangerous combination".
Campbell's counsel, Jerome Webby, said that while his client was a man "who some would say is incorrigible", there were no particular aggravating features about the hidden firearms and Campbell had not presented them at anyone.
"[Campbell] does acknowledge the harm that can be done by firearms when they are circulating in the community," Webby said.
But he added: "This is a case where some firearms were found in a bivouac. There's nothing more to it."
Judge Mackintosh, however, said that four of the firearms were stolen and Campbell knew they were there.
The firearms were found with a belt of shotgun cartridges and a container of .22 ammunition. All were capable of being fired, but none was loaded when found.
Judge Mackintosh sentenced Campbell to 30 months in prison.
He has already been in jail for 15 months on remand, which will count towards his sentence.
As his sentence is longer than two years, his release date will be decided by the Parole Board.
Clayton Walker appeared for the Crown.