Saying they were trying to overstep their authority, a judge on Monday shot down a lawsuit Perry County's auditors filed to try to force the sheriff to reveal the names of applicants for permits to carry concealed guns.

Huntingdon County Judge George N. Zanic gave the legal win to Sheriff Carl Nace by upholding Nace's preliminary objections to the suit by auditors Barbara Hench, Donna Jones and Kimberly McMullen.

Nace, who was backed in the legal fight by the Pennsylvania Sheriffs' Association, contended that the auditors' demand for the permit holders names conflicted with his legal obligation to keep those names confidential.

The auditors claimed they needed the names to effectively audit the county's books. Zanic, who was named to preside specially in the case, found the auditors' argument to be "legally insufficient" and dismissed their suit.

State law doesn't give auditors the authority and access Hench, Jones and McMullen sought, the judge found. They are only authorized by law to conduct financial audits of the county's receipts and expenditures and are not charged with doing performance audits or quality control exams of other county agencies, Zanic wrote.

Nace agreed to provide the auditors with financial records regarding the carry permits with the names of the permit holders edited out. That is enough information for the auditors to properly do their jobs, Zanic concluded.

"The [lawsuit] seems to be nothing more than a fishing expedition for information unrelated to the [auditors'] statutory duty to audit," the judge wrote in tossing the case. Nace, he added, has a legal obligation to "protect the confidentiality of the information contained in his records."

Nace's attorney, Joshua Prince, couldn't immediately be reached for comment on Zanic's ruling. Craig Staudemaier, the lawyer for the auditors, could not be reached for comment regarding whether Zanic's ruling will be appealed.

Zanic issued his decision less than a week after holding a hearing on the dispute.

The legal battle caused considerable grumbling in Perry County, with most of the sympathy going to the sheriff. Some people even sported "Support Sheriff Nace" T-shirts as the dispute heated up when the auditors filed suit.