I know what you mean. But there are some people who ACTUALLY want to gift to people so it wouldn't be fair to them to take gifting out of the game. If someone's bothering you about gifting them, just hit the ignore button. (That's what I'd do.)
I agree that it is annoying. What I've taken to doing is clicking on the Pirate asking and then clicking the ignore button. Then I can't hear him/her anymore. It does take a little extra work but it is worth it from my point of view.