UNITED NATIONS — Despite expensive overruns, Canada's gun registry may be saving the country money by helping to reduce costs associated with gun violence, a Swiss research institute argued Monday.

The Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies released its report, Small Arms Survey 2006, in New York on the opening day of a UN conference on ways to deal with the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.

Among other gun-related issues, the report says Bill C-68, which created the federal gun registry in Canada, "appears to be considerably more cost-effective than previously believed when considering possible savings in terms of firearms violence reduction.''

Researcher Nicolas Florquin told a news conference: "Drawing from existing costing studies in that country, we find that the decrease in gun injuries and gun deaths since 1995 actually shows that Canada may be saving up to $1.4 billion Canadian dollars a year.''

The Swiss report acknowledges proving a direct causal link with the gun registry is difficult but argues that "mortality and morbidity figures suggest stronger controls do contribute.''

Last year, Statistics Canada reported that death rates related to firearms had fallen over the last 25 years but refused to link the decline to gun-control measures brought in during the period. Its author, Kathryn Wilkins, noted there had been gun-control laws of one sort or another in Canada for most of the last century.

While acknowledging other factors could explain falling rates of violence, the Swiss institute said Bill C-68 probably played a role in helping to reduce the costs of fatal gun violence by $1.3 billion in 2002 -- calculated in 1993 dollars -- compared with 1995 when the bill was passed.

It says "the costs of non-fatal gun violence also decreased dramatically, saving Canada some ... $110 million in fiscal year 1997-98.''

The Swiss institute trains scholars in international politics, history, law and economics. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan studied economics there from 1961 to 1962. Its Small Arms Survey research project is funded by several governments including Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, France, and Britain.

The report came a few weeks after Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day declared the registry a costly and inefficient nuisance to firearms owners. A vote on legislation to abolish the registry is expected in the fall. It was uncertain whether the minority Conservative government would have enough support from opposition MPs to repeal the registry, created under the Liberals.

Canada's gun registry is analysed in two pages of the 317-page Swiss report that assesses the costs of gun violence, global supply and demand, major importers and exporters, international tracing instruments and the acquisition of arsenals by rebel movements.

The survey noted firearms deaths in Canada declined to 816 in 2002 from 1,125 in 1995. It found a corresponding decrease in total costs resulting from these deaths, $3.3 billion in 2002 from $4.6 billion in 1995.

The report notes a 32 per cent decrease in the number of injuries requiring hospitalization -- 767 in fiscal year 1997-1998 compared with 1,125 in 1993-1994 -- with corresponding declines in medical expenses to $237 million from $347 million.

Implementation costs for the registry were initially estimated at $119 million, with revenues of $117 million through licensing fees, for total net costs to the government of $2 million. But in December 2002, the auditor general said the new regulations would cost Canadian taxpayers more than $1 billion by fiscal year 2004-2005.