NEW YORK, NY. (The Borowitz Report Report)—A brilliant beam of sun broke through the clouds of tragedy this weekend when New Yorker humorist wrote a hilarious satirical news article pegged to the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting.

Titled "N.R.A. Proposes Sweeping Ban on Movies," the masterful spoof begins:

Saying it was "high time to take action against the number one cause of violence in America," the National Rifle Association issued a statement today urging a sweeping ban on movies.

Tracy Klugian, an official spokesperson for the gun-lobbying organization, said that the N.R.A. had taken this extraordinary step because it "could not stand idly by and watch movies tear apart the fabric of our civil society."

"The article is funny because the last thing the N.R.A wants to do is ban guns," explained professor John Huglicker, a comedy expert at Harvard University. "So they try to ban movies instead. Because that's where the shooting took place. In a movie theater."

Of course, the article doesn't just take this threadbare premise and build a stale Onion ripoff around it. There's a deeper line of hilarity running throughout, which shows just why The New Yorker hired this maestro of mirth.

"Actually, no. The whole joke is that the N.R.A. doesn't want to ban guns," said Prof. Huglicker. "That's it."

As of this writing, the article has over 11,000 "likes" on Facebook. Reached for comment, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "This is just further proof that Facebook users have impeccable taste."

[Image via Getty]