When the gun-rights crowd voices no objection to a piece of gun control legislation we wonder whether it has a chance in hell of making a difference. Such is the case with a bill approved by the House last week. But the bill inspired by the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., (yes, 19 months ago) actually has a few promising features.

Chief among them is the requirement that the state join the National Instant Background Check System, and submit criminal record information as well as information on mental health and substance abuse commitments to the national database. That won’t flag every individual with severe psychiatric problems and access to a gun — it won’t flag every Adam Lanza — but it is an improvement on the status quo.

The bill also gives police chiefs the power to deny firearm identification cards, which are required under state law to purchase or own a gun. That provision has the potential for abuse. But in a common sense concession to gun owners the House required that a chief defend the reason for any denial in writing, and a denial can be appealed in court.

There are other features that will satisfy gun control advocates and make a measure of sense — increased penalties for failure to report a lost or stolen gun, for example. There’s also a focus on school safety. School districts would have to develop a plan to address the “general mental health needs” of students (a mandate just vague enough to be meaningless). We do like the requirement that every school establish direct two-way radio communication with the local police and fire department, to be used in emergencies.

We’re dubious that this legislation will be the thing to render Massachusetts communities “among the safest in the world,” as House Speaker Robert DeLeo promised last week. Procedurally, the fact that rank-and-file members were given less than 12 hours to digest its contents before the vote is simply embarrassing.

But if a final bill does get to Gov. Deval Patrick’s desk in the next two weeks and if it closely resembles the House bill, the state’s already strict gun safety policy will be even stricter and there is some reasonable justification for that.