I was in your shoes not too long ago & there are many many different brokers to choose from.  

Put the shoe on the other foot. 

Would the rubber on my shoes have prevented a shock?

Cornhole board games, Horse shoes, Volley Ball net or Basketball net, Non expensive poker table with cars and chips, board games, Playstation or Nintendo for the teens, even spend a little extra for a full size stand up arcade game.You would be surprised the extra stars and kind words a few family nights of fun can make memories and people wanting to come back!

BP has a lot of useful resources to help you, I have found the most useful thing for me to do was to actually attend a physical meetup or two as it lets you brush shoulders with others in the same shoes (or have been in the same shoes in the past). 

It wasn't too long ago that I was in your shoes, so I can tell you my story through the DM if that'd be helpful.

Was in your shoes three years ago and now I have real estate investments.  

So if I were in your shoes I wouldn't buy anything at the moment. 

But, I'd venture to guess that the majority of gun owners aren't in well-regulated militias.Just to be clear, I'm not saying that there isn't a Constitutional right to bear arms (there is), but we can uphold that Constitutionality (both to the letter AND the spirit that the original signers had in mind) and still reduce the amount of gun-related death in this country by increasing regulation.As for the other arguments made above...Sure, criminals may be able to get guns even if they're not legal, but if a criminal has to go trolling in dark alleys or on the Internet to find a gun, there's a lot more chance he's going to get caught than if he can legally stroll into Walmart to buy one.And the argument above about the fact that they'll find other ways -- bombs, poison, etc -- is true.

I remember writing my first yellow letter campaign from scratch. 250 letters and and about 15 hours later I wanted to cry..haha.If you are really on that shoe string budget, then keep doing what you're doing.