One young man’s arraignment was particularly unnerving: The ADA noted that the defendant’s “street name” is “Guns and Butter,” and then proceeded to refer to the young man not as “the defendant” or by his given name, but rather as “Mr. Guns and Butter.” The judge made a thinly veiled attempt to hide her giggles, while the court officers made no attempt whatsoever to subdue their outright laughter.

So I just looked up "Guns and Butter" to try to understand why someone might have this nickname. To my surprise, the phrase is originally a reference to a macroeconomic model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_versus_butter_model

  The guns versus butter model is an example of
  a simple production–possibility frontier. It 
  demonstrates the relationship between a nation's
  investment in defense and civilian goods.

Or maybe a 1970's horn-heavy Progressive Rock band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrmPQreXgbA

Or 1980's Australian Power Pop / Political Punk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPsTisG7-JA

And 2000's American String Band Resurgence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCKHbYEDiNg

But I'm guessing this scene from Baby Boy is probably a more likely direct reference, but who really knows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga8o9eepj5s&t=40

This then gets remixed by a number of Hiphop DJ's. I think I like this one best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OboHRT5-Ss

It's even got Youtube parodies at this point, complete with reference to Gangnam Style as an example of "Butter": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUXHHlURvYg&t=105

It's also the name of a radical leftist radio show on Pacifica: http://www.gunsandbutter.org/about.htm

I wonder if any of the people giggling in the courtroom knew any of these references, or whether they were just laughing at the guy. I wonder if they would have cared. I wonder if the defendant himself even knew why people called him "Guns and Butter". I hope so.