Is "cable restraint" just a feel good word that states like to use.
Yes, and it is dangerous precedent. Some folks really do have the impression that their snares are less lethal (in given situations)simply because they are called "cable restraints". Bad policy.
I virtually wrote the WV snaring regulations. There are an exact copy of the Ohio regs, with small differences for other WV trapping regulations. I was working with some "cable restraint" states, but I bowed out when I saw what they were doing. Here again those states have there trappers thinking that "cable restraints" are less lethal than snare, and they are not.