With the Y2K bug right around the corner, I'm assuming you've already started stockpiling guns and ammo like every good citizen. Not so fast -- your survival options just improved. Taurus caused shivers of glee in the world of personal-defense firearms this year when they introduced the world's first line of all-titanium revolvers. The Taurus Model 617T, for instance, offers seven rounds -- not the usual wussy six -- of .357 Magnum ammunition in a compact revolver with a snubby 2" barrel to ensure that it fits comfortably under your pillow or, better yet, tucked fetchingly in your black leather garter belt. The total package weighs just 19.9 ounces unloaded, several ounces lighter than a typical .357 Magnum short-barreled revolver. Best of all, it comes in a tasteful (if a bit eerie) metallic-blue finish, which should coordinate nicely with that black Kevlar body armor you've been eyeing.

If you prefer pistols to revolvers -- a pistol, technically, means a semi-automatic weapon -- then the new kid on your block is the Smith & Wesson SW99, an American-made version of the Walther P99, which has seen law-enforcement service in Europe. Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson's version has a high-tech polymer frame, comes in .40 or 9 mm, and chambers the US maximum of 10 rounds plus one in the chamber -- though the enforcers of martial law will have 16-round staggered-column magazines plus one round in the chamber, so if you plan on doing some post-holocaust looting you might want to buy two, maybe three...