Tribal Huk leader Jamie Pink has been sentenced to four months of community detention and 12 months of intensive supervision on three weapons charges.

James Allan Pink, 45, appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday before Judge Simon Menzies.

He had admitted in March to possession of a Maverick pump-action shotgun and a Winchester pump-action shotgun, and in April to possession of a studded baseball bat.

The Tribal Huk, which gained national attention for making sandwiches for underprivileged Waikato children, made headlines in October last year when their boss declared war on methamphetamine in the small Waikato town of Ngaruawahia.

At a community meeting on October 13, Pink gave P dealers 24 hours to leave Ngaruawahia or face the consequences.

It was a campaign that also had consequences for Pink himself.

It was about 8.30am on October 24 when Pink parked his bullet-ridden four-wheel drive in the car park of the Waikato Times and advised a reporter that it marked the end of his campaign. He asked the reporter to "take care of the vehicle" and to call the police.

He warned the reporter to take care around the vehicle, as guns were inside.

"Clearly, from his own voluntary actions, his offending was detected and he was charged," his counsel Roger Laybourn told the court.

Handing over the vehicle and the guns to the Waikato Times was clearly "a symbolic gesture", Laybourn said.

The baseball bat was found when another vehicle being driven by Pink was stopped and searched by the police as part of a routine check at 4.25pm on November 5.

He was initially charged with being in possession of another offensive weapon - namely an axe - but this element of the charge was later withdrawn by the police.

Pink had explained that the bat had been brought into his car by another person and this person had later presented himself to the police.

"For reasons best known to the police, they declined to interview him," Laybourn said.

"Mr Pink had knowledge it was placed in his car and he failed to have it removed. So he is guilty of possession in that remote dimension.

"Mr Pink has responsibly pleaded guilty ... you are dealing with a mature man with a lot of very good qualities."

Those qualities included his campaign to provide children in lower decile schools throughout the Waikato with sandwiches.

Laybourn said his client had been motivated to help children after ruminating on his own situation as a child, when he often had to go without lunch.

"When he was hungry, he was angry - and that led to anti-social attitudes."

Laybourn said Pink had become incensed when a methamphetamine dealer had approached his daughter, " offering her this pernicious substance.

Crown prosecutor Shelley Gilbert pointed out that Pink's dislike of drugs evidently did not extend to marijuana, and he had been convicted in 2015 of possession of cannabis.

Judge Simon Menzies took heed of a pre-sentence report in which Pink acknowledged his moves to drive methamphetamine out of Ngaruawahia could have been achieved by more legitimate means.

At the time of his pre-sentence interview, Pink admitted he had not been "thinking straight".

Pink was accompanied in court by a contingent of Tribal Huk members and a German film crew, who were not permitted to film proceedings inside the court.

Speaking outside of court following the sentencing, Laybourn said the outcome of the case was a fair one.

"There's always a risk of a stern response [from the police] when someone takes a vigilante approach.

"I think overall it's been a very measured response.

"[The sentence] was fair and balanced, and what the judge had to do was respond to the seriousness of the crime."

Laybourn said Pink had realised his campaign was on the verge of escalating out of control, and he had taken steps to bring it to an end.

During the time of his vigilante campaign, Pink claimed to have been involved in a shoot-out with meth dealers on the back roads of Waingaro, near Ngaruawahia, during which he suffered an injury to his eye.

He also claimed he and the gang closed a number of P houses in the town using his sledgehammer and physical violence.

Police said they received no complaints and that there was no evidence of a change in drug activity after Pink's actions.