Don’t leave your doors unlocked. That’s just common sense, but so many people end up being easy victims that way.
Out in the country like that, it wouldn't make much difference. They would have busted in with the crowbar in less than a minute, anyway.
We don't lock our doors. There's an occasional robbery in our town, guys breaking in to steal TVs and computers and such. In most cases, they just break a door or a window and go right in. Probably costs more to replace the door than to replace the TV. We do have a bunch of dogs, which would put off most burglars.
It sounds like he's going to have to pay for a little plastering and painting, however. I think he was shooting to scare them off rather than hit him, and that can be hard on the walls.