Why are there no armlocks allowed in divisions other than blackbelt but chokes are allowed? This never made any sense to me.
because that's the way t hey roll up there.
seriously, it is just the idea that armlocks can seriously harm people who are not at the highest levels. quite often the non-blackbelts are either novice adults or kids/teens. they eliminate the armlocks until they know the skill level of the competitors is high enough to be safe in their application and to tap quickly once they are applied.
you can argue that is is overbearing, that becuase of bjj this idea has been proven wrong, etc, etc, etc.... but, that's just the way they prefer to do things up there.