The article discusses the relationship between science, politics, and crime control, particularly concerning the topic of gun-crime, proposing that criminological studies be separated from politics, thus providing the full contribution of social science to public controversies over crime. The authors propose 'Third Wave' criminology, in which scientific studies disentangle expertise from political rights in technical decisionmaking then find ways of effectively mobilizing both in the furtherance of scientific enterprises. In examining the global politics of gun-crime and a series of state-of the-art criminological studies concerning gun-crime and criminal markets, the authors found that although methodologically sophisticated, the underlying paradigmatic thinking flaws the outcome. They argue that 'Third Wave' criminology strives for deeper understanding of issues in an interdisciplinary way so as to contextualize problems. Figure, notes, and references