Would you buy a 6 year old a rifle?!?

My husband and i when to the store today with our son and his 4 year old daughter (my stepdaughter) who we have custody of, and we ran into my stepdaughters mother and sister (her sister turns 6 on may 14) and her sister was bragging that mommy was buying her a gun for her birthday! Now i live in the south and guns are common obviously, and even learning to fire one as a child happens more more often than it should but when her mother confirmed they where shopping for a rifle i wash shocked!!! Her nor her boyfriend or the man in the store seemed the least bit shocked either, an i just being overprotective? Would you buy a 6 year old a rifle? Should i be worried about my stepdaughter going for visitation? Hopefully these people have enough common sense to keep that thing put away when they aren't hunting! This seems absoluetly idiotic to me!