You seem to have trouble catching on, but let me help you out. Back in the early 90s there were a bunch of jump cues that were developed that made it absurdly easy to execute jump shots. First we had people who jumped 'dart style' using just their shafts, which was cool and stuff, and the first time I saw that was maybe in about '92. Before long they came out with cues that were about a foot long and had no tips on them, they were just bare wood at about 15mm and you put just a little bit of chalk on the wood. Looked crazy, but you could jump about anything with them, even when the balls were just an inch or two apart. Then next was the worst of all, which was the 'gas powered' jump cues or whatever, and they were again about the length of a shaft and had a big 15mm tip made of what looked like white plastic or something but supposedly had a special gas inside. Who knows whether that was true or not or what the material was, but the point was now with one of those things you could jump a ball that was within about a half an inch (or maybe even less) from the blocker. So at that point things got a little absurd because there was virtually no snookers that you couldn't jump out of and it got to where some players were so good at it that even hooking them at all became a pointless exercise. They just pull out this thing that looks like a big stir stick and hop over the ball and you have to wonder why you bothered even playing the hook in the first place. (Howard Vickery was one player I can recall who was a master with that little cue, but there were lots of others.)
So at that point there was some outcry from fans and players alike, and as a result tours and tournament directors started waking up and implementing a rule that jump cues had to be a minimum of 40" long. I'm not sure who was first with that rule, whether it was the PBT or the Camel Tour or what, but before long it became the standard for all tournaments and it more or less remains the same today.
So that's the history, and so like I said in my original post that you had trouble understanding, knowing that history reduces the whole jump cue discussion to some simple logical questions. See if you can follow along...
Question #1: Is there a point at which jumping becomes too easy and jump cues need to be regulated? YES or NO
Now logically we'd have to think the answer to this is YES, because otherwise the 40" rule for jump cues wouldn't exist and we go back to the early 90s and the 12-inch cues with the 15mm wooden tips and the 'gas powered' jumpers and so forth. Now if that's what you want then that's a discussion we can have, but I think if you saw one of those cues in action you'd agree that they're pretty absurd.
But if it's agreed that the answer to #1 is YES then what follows is:
Question #2: Are we at that point now? YES or NO (with reasons)
And that's pretty much it.
So like I say, comparing jump cues to chalk, or to gloves, or to low-deflection shafts, or whatever, is pure and simple missing the point. It's clear that jump cues can be regulated, and the reason it's clear is because it's been done before. The question is whether we've reached that point again. I say yes.
Clear enough for you?
